Proposals  Regarding 


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Constitutional  Changes 
Affecting  Committees  and 
Their  Functions 

AND 

The  Incorporation  of 

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the  Committee  of  Reference 

and  Counsel 


COMMITTEE  REPORTS  AND  DISCUSSION^ 

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AT  GARDEN  CITY,  NEW  YORKX^  1  ^  £ 


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JANUARY  12-13,  1916/ fW 


SPECIAL  DOCUM 


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FOREIGN  MISSIONS  CONFERENCE  OF  NORTH  AMERICA 
25  Madison  Avenue,  New  York 


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CONSTITUTIONAL  CHANGES  AFFECTING 
COMMITTEES  AND  THEIR  FUNCTIONS 
REPORT  OF  COMMITTEE 


REV.  CORNELIUS  H.  PATTON,  D.D.,  CHAIRMAN 

Wednesday  Afternoon,  January  12,  1916 
Mr.  Chairman  and  Brethren : 

The  Committee  sent  to  all  the  Boards,  a  few  weeks  ago, 
a  printed  notice  of  certain  amendments  to  the  constitution  af¬ 
fecting  our  committee  system.  I  hold  a  copy  in  my  hand. 
Copies  have  been  placed  at  the  end  of  each  row  of  seats,  and 
there  are  additional  copies  here  on  the  table,  if  any  of  you 
wish  for  them. 

To  the  Boards  Represented  in  the  Foreign  Missions 
Conference  of  North  America 

Boston,  Mass.,  November  29,  1915. 

Dear  Brethren. — At  the  last  Foreign  Missions  Conference, 
held  in  January,  1915,  the  following  action  was  taken: 

Resolved ,  That  the  question  of  making  any  changes  in  the 
powers  and  duties  of  the  Committee  on  the  Home  Base  and 
the  Committee  of  Reference  and  Counsel  and  in  the  relation 
of  either  or  both  of  them  to  each  other  and  to  the  other  com¬ 
mittees  of  the  Conference,  be  referred  to  a  special  commit¬ 
tee  consisting  of  Dr.  Cornelius  H.  Patton,  Dr.  Charles  R. 
Watson,  Dr.  Fred  P.  Haggard,  Dr.  John  R.  Mott,  Mr.  Harry 
Wade  Hicks  and  Dr.  Arthur  J.  Brown,  this  committee  to 
choose  its  own  chairman  and  to  report  to  the  next  annual  Con¬ 
ference,  advance  copies  of  its  report  to  be  mailed  to  all  the 
Boards  represented  in  the  Conference  at  least  six  weeks  prior 
to  the  annual  meeting. 

The  Committee  appointed  to  consider  this  matter  has  made 
a  careful  study  of  the  committee  system  of  the  Conference  and 
has  reached  the  conclusion  that  it  will  be  advantageous  to 
have  a  General  Committee  with  executive  functions,  in  which 
not  only  Reference  and  Counsel  but  all  other  permanent  com¬ 
mittees  and  Boards  of  the  Conference  shall  have  representa¬ 
tion,  and  in  which  there  shall  be  certain  members  representing 
the  Conference  at  large.  Some  of  the  considerations  leading 
to  this  suggestion  are  as  follows : 

1.  The  Reference  and  Counsel  Committee,  as  standing  for 


3 


the  work  on  the  foreign  field,  is  carrying  too  heavy  a  load  of 
work,  and  needs  some  lightening  of  its  burdens. 

2.  Through  the  increase  in  the  number  of  committees, 
problems  of  overlapping  and  of  co-ordination  are  constantly 
arising,  calling  for  a  committee  which  shall  keep  in  view  the 
work  of  the  Conference  as  a  whole. 

3.  Inadequacy  of  the  present  plan  in  view  of  the  expansion 
of  the  Conference  through  the  Board  of  Missionary  Prepara¬ 
tion,  and  the  probability  that  other  Boards  and  Commissions 
will  arise  as  we  develop  the  co-operative  principle. 

4.  The  desirability  of  having  the  program  for  the  annual 
meeting  of  the  Conference  arranged  by  a  committee  in  touch 
with  the  work  of  all  the  committees  throughout  the  year. 

The  changes  in  the  constitution  which  we  suggest  herewith 
provide  for  such  a  General  Committee  by  adding  one  para¬ 
graph  to  the  constitution,  and  by  making  certain  minor  omis¬ 
sions  and  alterations  in  other  paragraphs.  On  account  of  the 
number  of  these  minor  changes  it  has  been  found  convenient 
to  rewrite  all  the  sections  of  the  Constitution  relating  to  com¬ 
mittees. 

Your  Committee  on  Revision  has  also  considered  whether  in 
the  development  of  the  Conference  the  time  has  not  come 
when  we  should  have  the  services  of  a  paid  secretary  who  shall 
devote  practically  his  whole  time  to  the  affairs  of  the  Con¬ 
ference  and  of  its  committees.  Some  believe  that  the  task  of 
co-ordinating  and  supervising  the  various  functions  of  the 
Conference  would  be  greatly  facilitated  by  such  an  official, 
and  that  such  an  arrangement  could  be  financiered  on  our  pres¬ 
ent  budget.  Such  a  step  would  not  require  a  change  in  the 
constitution  but  only  a  new  interpretation  of  the  office  of  sec¬ 
retary.  If  however,  it  is  thought  best  to  incorporate  the  idea 
in  the  constitution,  it  could  be  done  by  a  slight  verbal  change 
in  the  article  on  officers,  stating  that  the  secretary  is  to  be  a 
salaried  executive  officer  to  serve  the  Conference  or  its  com¬ 
mittees  under  the  direction  of  the  General  Committee.  The 
committee  makes  no  recommendation  at  present,  but  in  case 
the  Conference  desires  to  take  such  a  step  your  committee 
would  like  to  have  this  statement  regarded  as  a  notice  of 
amendment. 

Fraternally  yours, 

Cornelius  H.  Patton. 
Charles  R.  Watson, 

Fred  P.  Haggard, 

John  R.  Mott, 

Harry  Wade  Hicks, 
Arthur  J.  Brown. 


4 


NOTICE  OF  AMENDMENT  ,1 ' 

Notice  is  hereby  given  that  at  the  meeting  of  the  Foreign 
Missions  Conference  of  North  America  to  be  held  January 
11-14,  1916,  a  resolution  will  be  introduced  looking  to  the 
amending  of  the  Constitution  in  the  following  manner: — 

For  the  sections  entitled,  “Committees,”  “Duties  of  Per¬ 
manent  Committees,”  “Committee  Reports,”  substitute  the  fol¬ 
lowing  : 

COMMITTEES 

The  principal  work  of  the  Conference  shall  be  done  through 
Committees,  whose  members  shall  be  chosen,  except  when  ap¬ 
pointed  for  temporary  service,  in  three  classes,  in  such  a  way 
that  the  term  of  one-third  of  the  members  shall  expire  each 
year.  All  permanent  Committees  shall  be  chosen  upon  nom¬ 
ination  by  the  Committee  on  Nominations,  excepting  the  Com¬ 
mittee  on  Nominations  itself,  which  shall  be  nominated  by 
the  Business  Committee. 

The  membership  of  the  following  permanent  Committees 
shall  be  as  stated : 

The  Committee  of  Reference  and  Counsel,  16  members, 
of  whom  three  shall  be  laymen ;  Committee  on  Home  Base, 
12;  Finance  Committee,  5;  Committee  on  Religious  Needs  of 
Anglo-American  Communities  on  the  Mission  Field,  6;  Com¬ 
mittee  on  Nominations  and  Credentials,  9. 

In  each  case  the  first  person  named  shall  be  the  convener 
of  the  committee  but  each  committee  shall  elect  its  own  offi¬ 
cers.  Committees  shall  have  the  right  to  fill  vacancies  ad 
interim. 

No  member  of  the  Conference  shall  be  eligible  for  service 
upon  any  one  of  these  permanent  Committees  for  more  than 
two  full  terms,  without  at  least  one  year’s  retirement,  reckon¬ 
ing  to  begin  from  the  adoption  of  this  measure.  Exception 
may  be  made  to  this  rule  by  the  unanimous  recommendation 
of  the  Nominating  Committee,  unanimously  endorsed  by  the 
Conference. 

In  addition  to  the  above  Committees  there  shall  be  a  General 
Committee  composed  of  not  less  than  eighteen  members,  which 
shall  be  regarded  as  the  Executive  Committee  of  the  Confer¬ 
ence.  It  shall  be  composed  of  the-  Chairman  and  Secretary  of 
the  Committee  of  Reference  and  Counsel,  the  Chairman  and 
Secretary  of  the  Committee  on  Home  Base,  the  Chairmen  of 
the  Finance  Committee,  the  Committee  on  the  Religious  Needs 
of  Anglo-American  Communities  on  the  Mission  Field,  the 
Committee  on  Nominations  and  Credentials,  also  the  Chair- 


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man  of  the  Board  of  Missionary  Preparation,  and  the  Treas¬ 
urer  of  the  Conference ;  together  with  nine  other  members  at 
large.  The  Chairmen  of  any  permanent  Committees  appoint¬ 
ed  by  the  Conference  in  the  future  shall  be  members  of  the 
General  Committee.  This  Committee  shall  have  regular 
monthly  meetings,  except  during  the  summer  and  in  those 
months,  when,  in  the  opinion  of  the  Chairman  and  Secretary, 
the  business  does  not  warrant  calling  a  meeting.  Any  Chair¬ 
man  of  a  sub-committee  serving  on  the  General  Committee 
when  prevented  from  attending  the  meetings  of  the  General 
Committee,  may  designate  as  his  substitute  some  other  mem¬ 
ber  of  his  sub-committee,  who  shall  participate  in  the  meeting 
without  vote. 

The  Business  Committee  of  each  annual  Conference,  con¬ 
sisting  of  five  persons,  shall  be  appointed  at  the  opening  ses¬ 
sion  on  nomination  of  the  General  Committee.  Other  Com¬ 
mittees  may  be  appointed  from  time  to  time  either  for  per¬ 
manent  or  temporary  service,  as  the  Conference  may  direct. 

DUTIES  OF  PERMANENT  COMMITTEES 

The  duties  of  the  Committee  of  Reference  and  Counsel 
shall  relate,  in  the  main,  to  work  on  the  foreign  field  and  shall 
include  such  features  as,  (a)  suggestions  in  regard  to  urn 
occupied  fields;  (b)  negotiations  with  governments;  (c)  con¬ 
sideration  of  questions  arising  on  the  mission  field  between 
the  missions  of  different  Boards,  as  they  may  be  referred  to 
it;  (d)  such  other  questions  as  may  be  referred  to  it  from 
time  to  time;  (e)  original  action  in  cases  requiring  immedi¬ 
ate  attention  and  not  involving  questions  of  policy  regarding 
which  there  might  be  essential  differences  of  opinion. 

The  Committee  on  Home  Base  shall  consider  questions  re¬ 
lating  to  the  cultivation  of  the  home  Churches  and  the  rela¬ 
tions  of  mission  Boards  represented  in  the  Conference  to  in¬ 
terdenominational  agencies,  in  so  far  as  these  agencies  concern 
the  home  base. 

The  Finance  Committee,  of  which  the  Treasurer  shall  be  a 
member,  shall  submit  to  the  Conference  the  annual  budget  and 
shall  be  responsible,  under  the  General  Committee,  for  secur¬ 
ing  and  disbursing  the  funds. 

The  Committee  on  Religious  Needs  of  Anglo-American 
Communities  in  Mission  Fields  shall  study  the  moral  and  re¬ 
ligious  conditions  of  such  communities  in  foreign  mission 
lands,  report  to  the  Conference  the  result  of  their  studies, 
and  render  in  the  name  of  the  Conference  whatever  assistance 
may  be  possible  in  securing  and  supporting  suitable  pastors, 

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providing  appropriate  church  buildings  and  in  creating  a 
wholesome  and  intelligent  religious  life  among  these  com¬ 
munities. 

The  Committee  on  Nominations  and  Credentials  shall  pre¬ 
sent  annually  lists  of  nominees  to  fill  vacancies  in  all  of  the 
permanent  committees  except  its  own,  and  make  nominations 
in  all  cases  referred  to  it  by  the  Conference  or  General  Com¬ 
mittee.  It  shall  also  make  up  the  roll  of  the  Conference  and 
consider  all  questions  relating  to  membership  of  the  same. 

The  General  Committee  shall  act  for  the  Conference  in  the 
oversight  of  the  executive  officers,  in  maintaining  suitable 
headquarters,  in  arranging  for  the  annual  meeting,  in  co¬ 
ordinating  the  work  of  the  various  sub-committees,  and  in  the 
consideration  of  such  larger  policies  and  measures  as  do  not 
fall  within  the  province  of  any  other  Committee.  The  Gen¬ 
eral  Committee  shall  also  act  for  the  Conference  ad  interim 
in  all  matters  calling  for  executive  action,  in  so  far  as  definite 
authority  and  power  may  not  have  been  committed  to  other 
regular  or  special  committees. 

COMMITTEE  REPORTS 

The  reports  of  the  permanent  Committees,  and  also  of  im¬ 
portant  temporary  Committees,  shall  be  presented  in  printed 
form  to  all  the  Boards  and  Societies  that  have  membership  in 
the  Conference,  at  least  four  weeks  before  the  assembling  of 
the  annual  Conference. 

In  preparing  its  report,  each  Committee  shall  consider  sep¬ 
arate  topics  by  themselves,  concluding  each  topic  with  what¬ 
ever  finding  or  recommendation  it  desires  to  propose.  Each 
topic  with  resolution  or  recommendation  shall  be  discussed 
and  disposed  of  by  the  Conference  before  the  following  topic 
of  the  same  report  is  considered,  except  as  may  be  called  for 
by  the  Conference.  Ample  opportunity  shall  be  given  for  dis¬ 
cussion,  a  member  of  the  Conference  having  a  second  privilege 
of  the  floor  upon  a  single  topic  only  when  no  other  member 
desires  to  speak.  Every  member  shall  have  equal  opportunity 
to  speak  upon  each  separate  resolution. 

Cornelius  H.  Patton, 
Charles  R.  Watson, 

Fred  P.  Haggard, 

John  R.  Mott, 

Harry  Wade  Hicks, 
Arthur  J.  Brown, 

Committee. 


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Before  asking  for  action  on  these  amendments,  the  Com¬ 
mittee  desires  me  to  read  a  general  statement  of  explanation 
as  to  the  course  we  have  followed  and  the  reasons  leading  up 
thereto. 

GENERAL  STATEMENT  OF  COMMITTEE 

It  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  Committee  on  Revision 
is  acting  under  definite  instructions  of  the  Conference,  which 
instructions  were  issued  after  considerable  discussion  at  Gar¬ 
den  City  last  year.  It  will  be  recalled  that  this  question  was 
taken  up  in  a  committee  meeting  and  later  in  a  representative 
group  in  connection  with  a  luncheon,  with  the  result  that  the 
Conference  was  asked  to  make  the  Chairman  of  the  Home 
Base  Committee  ex  officio  a  member  of  Reference  and  Coun¬ 
sel  ;  but,  in  recognition  of  the  fact  that  this  was  not  likely  to 
prove  adequate,  the  Conference  was  further  asked  to  appoint 
a  committee  on  Revision  to  report  in  1916.  It  is  clear  that 
the  Conference  expects  not  only  to  revise  its  Constitution,  but 
to  do  so  in  a  somewhat  radical  way.  Your  Revision  Commit¬ 
tee,  while  realizing  this  fact,  yet  sought  to  suggest  changes  no 
more  radical  than  the  circumstances  warranted.  Possibly  in 
the  notice  sent  to  the  boards  they  have  leaned  too  far  in  the 
direction  of  conservatism.  They  discussed  the  various  plans 
for  securing  a  more  representative  Executive  Committee  and 
favored  the  plan  proposed  as  on  the  whole  the  one  most  likely 
to  give  satisfaction. 

The  printed  plan,  which  we  will  call  the  New  Plan,  is  based 
upon  the  idea  of  maintaining,  so  far  as  possible,  the  present 
committee  system,  the  feeling  being  that  we  already  have  a 
strong  set  of  committees,  several  of  these  having  achieved 
real  distinction.  It  seemed  unwise  to  do  away  with  these  dis¬ 
tinctive  and  successful  groups.  The  difficulty  was  considered 
to  be  mainly  in  the  lack  of  a  system  of  coordination  and  in  the 
inadequacy  of  the  present  plan  for  meeting  the  growing  needs 
of  the  Conference.  No  change  whatever  was  suggested  in 
the  work  of  the  following  committees :  Home  Base ;  Religious 
needs  of  the  Anglo-American  Communities;  Nominations; 
Finance.  The  Committee  of  Reference  and  Counsel,  however, 
is  called  upon  to  pass  over  its  purely  executive  functions  to 
the  newly  created  General  Committee  and  the  Committee  of 
Arrangements  is  merged  with  this  General  Committee.  It  is 
suggested  that  the  General  Committee  be  constituted  in  such 
a  way  as  to  make  it  thoroughly  representative  of  every  de¬ 
partment  of  work,  and  yet  not  in  such  a  way  as  to  entail  an 
unnecessary  burden  of  work  upon  members  of  the  Confer- 

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ence.  Upon  this  theory,  representation  upon  the  General  Com¬ 
mittees  is  given  only  to  Chairmen  and  Secretaries  of  certain 
committees  and  to  Chairmen  only  of  other  committees.  The 
arrangement  allows  nine  members  of  the  Conference-at-Large 
to  serve  on  the  General  Committee,  thus  meeting  the  objec¬ 
tion,  somewhat  rife,  that  the  Conference  is  managed  ad  interim 
by  a  few  members  mostly  from  the  larger  Boards  and  in  the 
Metropolitan  centers.  It  also  brings  into  the  General  Com¬ 
mittee  representation  from  the  Board  of  Missionary  Prepara¬ 
tion  and  allows  for  similar  representation  on  the  part  of  Com¬ 
mittees,  Boards  or  Commissions  to  be  appointed  in  the  future. 
It  will  be  seen  that  this  is  a  thorough-going,  representative 
arrangement,  formed  upon  the  plan  which  exists  in  other  or¬ 
ganizations  handling  various  lines  of  work.  It  would  seem 
adequate  to  meet  the  four  defects  in  our  present  plan,  which 
are  cited  in  the  covering  letter  issued  by  the  Revision  Com¬ 
mittee. 

The  plan  has  been  criticized  on  three  grounds,  so  far  as  in¬ 
formation  has  reached  your  Committee.  (1)  It  adds  unnec-* 
essarily  to  the  administrative  machinery  of  the  Conference  by 
creating  an  entirely  new  committee.  (2)  It  deprives  Refer¬ 
ence  and  Counsel  of  its  leading  functions.  At  this  point  it  is 
maintained  that  through  the  coming  into  existence  of  the  Edin¬ 
burgh  Continuation  Committee,  on  the  one  hand,  and  of  the 
Home  Base  Committee  on  the  other,  comparatively  little  re¬ 
mains  for  Reference  and  Counsel  to  do,  except  what  may  be 
called  the  executive  business  of  the  Conference,  such  as  the 
maintaining  of  missionary  headquarters  and  kindred  lines  of 
work.  (3)  The  new  plan  requires  double  service  on  the  part 
of  members  of  the  Conference  already  carrying  too  heavy  a 
load  of  work;  that  is,  they  would  have  to  serve  not  only  on  the 
present  committees,  but  also  on  this  new  General  Committee. 

In  the  way  of  constructive  criticism,  various  alternative 
plans  have  been  suggested.  Foremost  among  these  is  the  pro¬ 
position  that  we  should  secure  a  thoroughly  representative  Ex¬ 
ecutive  Committee  by  combining  Reference  and  Counsel  and 
Home  Base,  possibly  also  the  Committee  on  Arrangements  and 
Finance,  in  one  large  Executive  Committee  of  from  twenty- 
one  to  twenty-eight  persons ;  that  this  large  group  should 
sub-divide  along  present  committee  lines  for  the  major  part 
of  the  work. 

This  alternative  plan  would  certainly  give  us  adequate  sys¬ 
tem  of  coordination,  so  far  as  immediate  committees  involved 
are  concerned.  It  would  not,  however,  bring  under  immedi¬ 
ate  survey  several  important  departments  of  work,  such  as  the 
Board  of  Missionary  Preparations ;  the  Commission  on  Lit- 


9 


erature  which  is  proposed  and  the  Committee  on  Anglo-Am¬ 
erican  Communities. 

Attention  should  also  be  called  to  the  fact  that  the  alterna¬ 
tive  plan  would  in  a  measure  be  a  reversion  to  the  system 
which  was  followed  some  six  or  seven  years  ago,  when  Ref¬ 
erence  and  Counsel  was  the  only  General  Committee.  At  that 
time  there  was  no  Home  Base  Committee  and,  of  course,  no 
Edinburgh  Continuation  Committee.  Practically  all  large 
problems  coming  before  the  Conference  were  discussed  and 
presented  with  recommendations  by  Reference  and  Counsel, 
even  matters  relating  to  the  securing  and  qualifying  of  can¬ 
didates.  It  was  felt  then  that  this  was  too  large  a  load  for 
any  one  committee  to  carry ;  and  hence,  upon  the  recommen¬ 
dation  of  Reference  and  Counsel,  the  Home  Base  Committee 
was  constituted.  The  development  of  the  functions  of  the 
Home  Base  Committee  would  seem  to  have  justified  its  cre¬ 
ation.  It  is  a  question  we  should  have  clearly  before  us  wheth¬ 
er  or  not  we  should  revert  to  the  plan  of  former  days,  and 
have  such  a  consolidation  of  functions  as  the  alternative  plan 
would  require. 

In  the  matter  of  double  service,  it  seems  impossible  to  avoid 
a  certain  amount  of  extra  work  on  the  part  of  certain  mem¬ 
bers  of  the  Conference  if  we  are  to  make  the  Conference  ef¬ 
fective.  Under  the  New  Plan  double  service  is  required  only 
on  the  part  of  those  chairmen  and  secretaries  of  committees 
who  would  become  members  of  the  General  Committee,  viz: 
9  persons.  Under  the  alternative  plan  all  members  of  sub¬ 
committees  would  be  called  upon  to  do  double  service,  since 
they  would  have  to  attend  to  the  affairs  of  their  sub-com¬ 
mittees  and  also  meet  in  the  larger  group.  This  would  in¬ 
volve  not  less  than  21  persons. 

Under  the  alternative  Plan  there  is  also  a  strong  probabil¬ 
ity  that  there  would  be  a  good  deal  of  threshing  over  of  sub¬ 
committee  work  in  the  larger  committee.  For  instance,  if 
Home  Base  was  simply  a  sub-committee  of  Reference  and 
Counsel  it  would  hardly  feel  like  putting  into  its  section  of 
the  annual  report  discussions  and  recommendations  which  had 
not  been  passed  upon  by  the  whole  committee.  This  would 
involve  a  double  discussion  of  all  leading  topics,  and  hence  a 
waste  of  time.  Under  the  New  Plan  Home  Base  would  con¬ 
tinue  its  present  separate  functions,  but  with  the  proviso  that 
its  Chairman  and  Secretary,  by  being  members  of  the  Gen¬ 
eral  Committee,  should  see  to  it  that  nothing  is  done  not  prop¬ 
erly  coordinated  with  the  work  of  the  other  departments  of 
the  Conference.  What  we  need  is  not  more  discussion,  but 
more  coordination. 


io 


In  the  matter  of  depriving  Reference  and  Counsel  of  its 
leading  functions,  the  criticisms  have  presented  quite  a  new 
point  of  view,  and,  of  course,  a  very  important  one.  Cer^ 
tainly  nothing  should  be  done  which  relegates  Reference  and 
Counsel  to  a  minor  position  in  the  administration  of  the  Com 
ference.  Your  Committee  proceeded  on  the  assumption,  which 
was  not  challenged  at  the  time,  that  Reference  and  Counsel 
already  is  overburdened,  and  that  it  would  have  ample  scope 
for  a  highly  important  work,  in  fact  by  far  the  most  import¬ 
ant  work  of  the  Conference,  if  it  confined  itself  in  the  main 
to  questions  arising  from  the  administration  of  the  work  on 
the  foreign  field,  including  suggestions  in  regard  to  unoccu¬ 
pied  fields,  negotiations  with  governments,  consideration  of 
questions  arising  on  the  mission  field  between  missions  of 
different  Boards,  questions  of  efficiency  on  the  field,  such 
questions  as  may  be  referred  to  it  from  time  to  time,  and 
original  action  in  cases  requiring  immediate  attention  in  the 
sphere  of  foreign  administration. 

Attention  should  further  be  called  to  the  fact  that  the  Al¬ 
ternative  Plan  would  break  up  the  present  committee  system, 
which,  aside  from  the  fact  of  lack  of  coordination,  has  proved 
to  be  of  large  worth.  As  a  specification  under  this,  it  might 
be  said  that  the  Alternative  Plan  would  weaken  the  esprite  de 
corps  of  the  present  Home  Base  Committee,  which  has  been 
built  up  through  several  years  of  faithful  and  effective  ser¬ 
vice.  It  could  hardly  be  hoped  that  any  committee  like  this 
which  becomes  a  sub-committee  of  another  committee  would 
have  quite  the  incentive  and  prestige  which  now  exist. 

It  would  appear  that  there  is  sufficient  force  in  these  vari¬ 
ous  considerations,  pro  and  con,  to  constitute  a  pretty  even 
balance  between  the  two  plans.  If,  however,  the  contention 
is  established  that  Reference  and  Counsel  would  be  left  with¬ 
out  a  sufficient  task  under  the  New  Plan,  then  the  weight  of 
argument  would  seem  to  be  against  such  a  plan  and  in  favor 
of  some  alternative  proposition. 

It  has  been  suggested  that  under  the  alternative  plan  to 
avoid  losing  the  services  of  some  now  serving  on  the  commit¬ 
tee,  and  to  avoid  having  too  large  a  Reference  and  Counsel 
Committee,  the  sub-committees  might  be  allowed  the  privilege 
of  inviting  the  co-operation  of  other  members  of  the  Confer¬ 
ence,  who  should  become  members  of  the  sub-committees 
ex-officio  on  what  the  English  call  the  co-opting  principle. 
Whether  or  not  this  would  be  an  overworking  of  the  co-opting 
idea  should  be  carefully  considered. 

The  only  desire  of  your  Committee  has  been  to  secure  such 
an  effective  working  basis  for  our  committees  as  will  carry 


ii 


the  hearty  consent  of  the  Conference  and  of  the  Boards.  Al¬ 
though  it  was  necessary  to  go  on  record  with  definite  propos¬ 
als  of  revision  in  order  to  bring  the  subject  legally  before  the 
conference,  we  have  sought  to  keep  our  minds  open  and  to 
give  the  conference  the  benefit  of  any  new  light  which  might 
come  through  criticism  or  further  study.  Our  matured  judg¬ 
ment  is  that  what  we  have  called  the  Alternative  Plan  offers, 
on  the  whole,  more  advantages  than  the  other.  In  the  con¬ 
solidation  of  committees,  however,  we  would  include  not  only 
Reference  and  Counsel  and  Home  Base,  but  also  the  Com¬ 
mittee  on  Finance  and  the  Committee  on  Arrangements.  We 
favor  maintaining  the  name,  Reference  and  Counsel  for  the 
new  committee.  We  favor  maintaining  each  of  the  present 
committees  making  up  the  consolidation  as  a  sub-committee 
of  the  Reference  and  Counsel.  We  also  favor  the  co-opting 
idea,  whereby  each  sub-committee  may  invite  the  co-operation 
of  a  certain  number  of  representatives  of  the  Boards  not 
elected  to  the  Reference  and  Counsel  Committee.  The  simi¬ 
larity  of  this  plan  to  the  one  sent  out  in  print  is  apparent.  It 
has  the  advantage,  however,  of  continuing  Reference  and 
Counsel  as  the  Executive  Committee  of  the  Conference  while 
making  it  more  representative  in  character. 

In  the  carrying  out  of  these  ideas,  we  have  prepared  the  fol¬ 
lowing  articles  to  our  Constitution,  which  we  would  like  to 
have  presented  under  proper  parliamentary  procedure  as  a 
substitute  for  the  articles  which  we  recommended  to  the 
Boards  in  the  printed  notice  bearing  the  date  of  November 
29,  1915.  Signed, 

Cornelius  H.  Patton, 
Charles  R.  Watson, 

Fred  P.  Haggard, 

'  John  R.  Mott, 

Harry  Wade  Hicks, 
Arthur  J.  Brown. 

I  will  now  read  the  three  articles  on  the  committee  system 
which  correspond  with  what  we  have  there  called  the  alter¬ 
native  plan  as  over  against  the  new  plan  which  you  have  in 
print  and  which  I  was  advised  by  the  Committee  to  place  be¬ 
fore  you  for  your  consideration. 

ALTERNATIVE  PLAN 

COMMITTEES 

The  Conference  shall  appoint  the  following  Standing  Com¬ 
mittees  and  their  membership  shall  be  as  stated : 

The  Committee  of  Reference  and  Counsel  [twenty-one] 
amended  to  read  twenty-seven  members. 


12 


The  Committee  on  Religious  Needs  of  Anglo-American 
Communities  on  the  Mission  Field,  six  members. 

The  Committee  on  Nominations  and  Credentials,  nine  mem¬ 
bers. 

Standing  Committees  [other  than  the  Committee  on  Nom¬ 
inations  and  Credentials!  inserted  later,  shall  be  so  appointed 
that  the  terms  of  office  of  one-third  of  the  members  of  each 
Committee  shall  expire  each  year.  No  member  of  the  Con¬ 
ference  shall  be  eligible  for  continuous  service  upon  any  one 
of  the  Standing  Committees  for  more  than  two  full  terms, 
except  by  the  unanimous  recommendation  of  the  Nominating 
Committee,  unanimously  endorsed  by  the  Conference.  All 
Standing  Committees  shall  be  chosen  upon  nomination  by  the 
Committee  on  Nominations,  excepting  the  Committee  on  Nom¬ 
inations  itself,  which  shall  be  [nominated  by  the  Business 
Committee]  changed  to  read,  be  appointed  by  the  Chairman 
of  the  Conference  from  members  of  the  Conference  in  actual 
attendance ;  provided,  however,  that  two-thirds  of  the  Com¬ 
mittee  shall  consist  of  persons  who  were  not  members  of  the 
Committee  the  previous  year. 

A  Business  Committee  of  each  annual  Conference,  consist¬ 
ing  of  [five]  amended  to  read  seven  persons,  shall  be  appoint¬ 
ed  at  the  opening  session  on  nomination  of  the  Committee  of 
Reference  and  Counsel.  Other  Committees  may  be  appointed 
from  time  to  time,  as  the  Conference  may  direct. 

DUTIES  OF  COMMITTEES 

The  Committee  of  Reference  and  Counsel  shall  act  for  the 
Conference  in  the  oversight  of  the  executive  officers,  in  main¬ 
taining  suitable  headquarters,  in  arranging  for  the  annual 
meeting,  in  coordinating  the  work  of  the  various  Committees, 
Boards. and  Commissions  of  the  Conference,  and  in  the  con- 
*  sideration  of  policies  and  measures  relating  to  foreign  mis¬ 
sionary  interests  both  at  the  home  base  and  on  the  foreign 
field,  in  so  far  as  these  have  not  been  specially  committed  to 
some  other  Committee.  The  Committee  of  Reference  and 
Counsel  shall  also  act  for  the  Conference  ad  interim  in  all 
matters  calling  for  executive  action,  in  so  far  as  definite 
authority  and  power  may  not  have  been  committed  to  other 
regular  or  special  committees.  The  Committee  of  Reference 
and  Counsel  shall  have  the  right  to  appoint  as  members  of 
any  of  its  sub-committees,  co-operating  members  chosen  from 
the  Conference  or  from  the  Boards  composing  the  Conference 
or  their  constituencies,  but  such  co-operating  members  shall 
not  thereby  become  members  of  the  Committee  of  Reference 
and  Counsel. 


1 3 


For  the  sake  of  efficiency  and  convenience  in  the  adminis¬ 
tration  of  its  work,  the  Committee  of  Reference  and  Counsel 
may  appoint  sub-committees  and  delegate  work  to  them  along 
the  following  main  lines : 

(a)  Foreign  Affairs:  including  negotiations  with  govern¬ 
ments,  consideration  of  questions  arising  on  the  mission  field 
between  the  missions  of  different  Boards,  as  they  may  be  re¬ 
ferred  to  it,  proposals  and  suggestions  in  regard  to  unoccu¬ 
pied  fields  and  original  action  in  cases  requiring  immediate  at¬ 
tention  and  not  involving  questions  of  policy  regarding  which 
there  might  be  essential  differences  of  opinion. 

(b)  Home  Base:  including  questions  relating  to  the  culti¬ 
vation  of  the  home  Churches  and  the  relations  of  mission 
Boards  represented  in  the  Conference  to  interdenominational 
agencies,  in  so  far  as  these  agencies  concern  the  home  base. 

(c)  Finance:  including  the  preparation  of  an  annual  bud¬ 
get  to  be  submitted  to  the  Conference,  the  general  oversight 
of  the  funds  of  the  Conference,  and  all  necessary  co-operation 
with  the  Treasurer  of  the  Conference  in  the  securing  and  dis¬ 
bursing  of  funds. 

(d)  Arrangements:  including  making  the  arrangements  for 
the  annual  meeting  of  the  Conference. 

The  Committee  on  Religious  Needs  of  Anglo-American 
Communities  in  Mission  Fields  shall  study  the  moral  and  re¬ 
ligious  conditions  of  such  communities  in  foreign  mission 
lands,  report  to  the  Conference  the  result  of  their  studies,  and 
render  in  the  name  of  the  Conference  whatever  assistance  may 
be  possible  in  securing  and  supporting  suitable  pastors,  pro¬ 
viding  appropriate  church  buildings  dnd  in  creating  a  whole¬ 
some  and  intelligent  religious  life  among  these  communities. 

The  Committee  on  Nominations  and  Credentials  shall  pre¬ 
sent  [annually],  was  omitted  later,  lists  of  nominees  to  fill 
vacancies  in  all  of  the  permanent  committees  except  its  own,  * 
and  make  nominations  in  all  cases  referred  to  it  by  the  Con¬ 
ference  or  by  the  Committee  of  Reference  and  Counsel.  It 
shall  also  make  up  the  roll  of  the  Conference  and  consider 
all  questions  relating  to  membership  of  the  same. 

COMMITTEE  REPORTS 

The  reports  of  the  permanent  Committees,  and  also  of  im¬ 
portant  temporary  Committees,  shall  be  presented  in  printed 
form  to  all  the  Boards  and  Societies  that  have  membership  in 
the  Conference,  at  least  four  weeks  before  the  assembling  of 
the  annual  Conference. 

In  preparing  its  report,  each  Committee  shall  consider  sep¬ 
arate  topics  by  themselves,  concluding  each  topic  with  what- 


14 


ever  finding  or  recommendation  it  desires  to  propose.  Each 
topic  with  resolution  or  recommendation  shall  be  discussed 
and  disposed  of  by  the  Conference  before  the  following  topic 
of  the  same  report  is  considered,  except  as  may  be  called  for 
by  the  Conference.  Ample  opportunity  shall  be  given  for  dis¬ 
cussion,  a  member  of  the  Conference  having  a  second  privilege 
of  the  floor  upon  a  single  topic  only  when  no  other  member 
desires  to  speak.  Every  member  shall  have  equal  opportunity 
to  speak  upon  each  separate  resolution. 

I  feel  quite  sure  there  are  no  glaring  defects  in  this  con¬ 
stitution  ;  that  is,  that  it  does  carry  out  the  ideas  which  we 
had  laid  before  us. 

As  a  matter  of  procedure,  Mr.  Chairman,  in  that  we  have 
served  formal  notice  that  these  printed  recommendations 
would  come  before  you,  I  move  that  we  amend  our  constitu¬ 
tion  by  substituting  for  the  present  articles  on  Committees, 
Duties  of  Permanent  Committees,  and  Committee  Reports, 
the  articles  on  those  subjects  presented  to  the  Boards  in  print 
and  bearing  the  date  of  November  29,  1915;  and  if  that  is 
seconded  before  the  Conference,  I  would  like  them  to  offer  a 
substitute,  namely,  this  new  series  of  articles  which  I  have 
just  read. 

The  Chairman:  Is  the  motion  seconded;  that  is,  the  mo¬ 
tion  that  proposes  the  amendments  as  they  are  in  the  printed 
documents  ? 

Dr.  de  Schweinitz  :  I  will  second  the  motion. 

The  Chairman  :  The  motion  is  seconded,  and  these  amend¬ 
ments  are  now  before  you  for  your  action. 

Dr.  Patton  :  Mr.  Chairman,  I  would  like  now,  at  the  re¬ 
quest  of  the  Committee,  to  move  to  amend  the  motion  by  sub¬ 
stituting  for  these  three  articles,  for  this  report  in  print,  the 
articles  which  I  have  just  read  and  which  are  called  the  new 
plan. 

The  Chairman  :  Is  there  a  second  to  the  proposal  to  amend  ? 

Dr.  Haggard  :  Second  the  motion. 

The  Chairman:  Dr.  Haggard  seconds  the  motion.  This 
brings  before  you  then  the  new  plan  or  the  revised  plan, 
whichever  you  call  it. 

Dr.  Patton  :  I  call  it  the  new  plan. 

A  Delegate  :  The  alternate  plan. 

Dr.  Patton  :  The  alternate  plan ;  you  are  right. 

George  Drach  :  I  rise  to  a  point  of  order  on  this  substi¬ 
tute  amendment.  Is  it  in  order  to  present  a  matter  of  this 
sort  without  giving  us  previous  notice  ? 

The  Chairman:  I  should  say  that  it  would  be  a  simpler 
matter  to  propose  this  as  a  substitute  instead  of  as  an  amend- 

15 


ment.  I  believe  that  it  would  be  wise  to  have  it  presented  as 
a  substitute. 

Dr.  Patton  :  I  would  be  glad  to  make  that  change. 

The  Chairman:  As  to  the  second  question,  if  I  am  asked 
for  a  ruling  on  that — do  I  understand  that  to  be  desired? 

Mr.  Drach  :  Yes;  I  ask  for  a  ruling  of  the  chair  on  that, 
if  it  isn’t  necessary  in  a  matter  of  a  radical  change  like  this 
to  give  us  all  one  month’s  notice  in  writing? 

The  Chairman:  I  should  rule  on  that  point  that  the  modi¬ 
fications  that  have  been  presented  under  the  constitution  and 
communicated  to  the  Boards  are  the  modifications  that  are 
before  you  for  your  action ;  but  being  before  you  for  your 
action,  modifications  of  those  proposed  amendments  are  en¬ 
tirely  in  order. 

Dr.  Mott  :  Mr.  Chairman,  might  we  not  now  hear  the 
whole  alternative  plan  read  again?  It  will  save  time,  I  think. 

The  Chairman:  The  reading  of  the  alternate  plan  is  called 
for.  Mr.  Patton  will  read  it  again. 

Dr.  Patton  :  Article  on  committees.  The  Conference  shall 
appoint  the  following  standing  committees,  and  their  mem¬ 
bership  shall  be  as  stated : 

(Dr.  Patton  reads  alternative  plan.) 

Dr.  Mott  :  Mr.  Chairman,  is  it  in  order  to  propose  amend¬ 
ments  of  details  at  this  moment? 

The  Chairman  :  It  depends  on  how  far  it  would  go.  I 
should  think  it  would  be  proper. 

Dr.  Mott  :  The  alternate  plan  proposes  that  the  new  Com¬ 
mittee  of  Reference  and  Counsel  be  composed  of  twenty-one 
persons.  I  would  move  that  we  substitute  the  number  24  ior 
21.  If  this  is  seconded,  I  will  give  the  reason  in  a  word. 

(Motion  seconded.) 

Dr.  Mott  :  The  reason  in  a  word  is  that,  in  view  of  the 
volume  of  work  with  which  this  large  committee  will  have  to 
deal — that  is,  in  the  light  of  actual  experience;  and  in  view 
of  the  new  plan,  calling  for  possibly  a  wider  sub-division  even 
than  we  now  have,  we  shall  doubtless  need  more  in  this  cen¬ 
tral  group  than  21.  I  recognize  that  increasing  it  to  24  is 
only  a  slight  increase — in  some  ways  I  wish  it  might  be  even 
longer — but  I  feel  this  will  be  advantageous.  I  am  not  un¬ 
mindful  of  the  principle  that  is  proposed  of  coopting  other 
members,  but  when  I  think  of  the  sub-committee  organization 
of  our  present  Committee  of  Reference  and  Counsel,  I  doubt 
very  much  whether  we  could  man  as  many  committees  as  we 
are  called  upon  to  man  from  time  to  time  with  twenty-one, 
even  availing  ourselves  of  this  principle  of  cooption. 

i  a 


The  Chairman  :  The  question  will  be  on  the  amendment, 
substituting  for  twenty-one,  twenty-four.  Are  you  ready? 

A  Delegate  :  May  I  ask — do  I  understand  there  are  now 
two  motions  before  us  that  the  amendment  proposes  to  com¬ 
prise  in  this  Committee  of  Reference  and  Counsel,  twenty- 
four,  instead  of  twenty-one? 

Dr.  John  Fox:  I  have  some  hesitation  and  am  speaking 
rather  because  I  hope  that  what  I  may  say  will  give  someone 
courage  and  time  to  say  something  better  than  I  could  hope 
to  say  offhand  on  so  elaborate  a  set  of  proposals  as  we  have 
just  had  laid  before  us.  It  seems  to  me  an  unheard  of  pro¬ 
ceeding  in  any  body  of  this  kind — it  may  be  perfectly  regular 
— I  have  no  disposition  to  question  it ;  but  imagine  a  body  un¬ 
dertaking  to  amend  a  constitution  that  carried  any  serious 
significance,  the  committee  reporting  a  set  of  amendments 
which  had  been  printed,  and  then  substituting  something  which 
they  had  considered  at  the  last  minute  was  better  than  what 
they  proposed,  and  then  asking  the  body  to  adopt  it  without 
having  the  opportunity  for  any  reflection  whatever.  It  would 
seem  to  me  that  there  is  a  very  strong  pro  and  con  for  both 
of  these  proposals  and  that  the  very  least  that  could  be  done 
to  safeguard  our  actions,  to  prevent  us  from  taking  action 
under  the  leadership  of  the  highly  respected  and  honorable 
Committee,  what  we  may  afterwards  regret,  just  as  they  re¬ 
gretted  what  they  first  proposed  to  us,  that  the  least  we  can 
do  is  to  have  it  before  us  or  at  least  have  a  few  minutes  to 
reflect  before  we  vote.  Now,  I  hear  people  saying  here — I 
have  had  the  unwelcome  task  a  good  many  times  of  dissent¬ 
ing  a  little,  and  I  venture  to  say — (laughter) — I  hesitate  to, 
because  I  do  not  feel  it  is  strictly  the  business  of  the  Bible 
Society.  I  speak  not  as  a  Presbyterian  member,  though  I  am 
that.  I  want  it  understood  I  am  not  speaking  for  the  Presby¬ 
terian  Board  at  all.  We  are  here  because  in  a  certain  limited* 
way  we  can  be  very  useful  to  you ;  and  in  a  very  much  larger 
way  we  can  be  of  use  to  you  in  the  Bible  Society.  But  still 
we  have,  by  the  grace  of  the  Conference,  been  conceded  equal 
standing  on  the  floor,  and  I  think  that  obligates  us  to  say  at 
least  what  we  think.  Is  it  wise,  when  your  Committee  has 
brought  you  two  reports  really,  the  one  a  little  prior  to  the 
other,  these  twin  reports — which  is  Jacob?  Which  is  Esau? — 
to  vote  upon  them  without  time  for  reflection?  That  is  my 
first  point.  The  second  one  is  this — 

The  Chairman:  I  was  about  to  say,  if  you  will  allow  me, 
Dr.  Fox,  that  that  question  about  Jacob  and  Esau  is  a  strictly 
Bible  Society  question. 

Dr.  Fox:  Now  the  second  point  is  this:  Both  of  these  sets 


1 7 


of  changes  are  all  in  a  line  with  tlie  change  which  has  come 
over  the  Conference  since  I  first  knew  it  15  or  20  years  ago. 
We  then  led  the  simple  life,  but  now  we  have  the  complexity 
of  the  20th  century.  It  is  not  for  me,  being  only  a  Bible  So¬ 
ciety  secretary,  and  needing  to  be  set  straight  even  about  the 
Bible,  to  say  that  it  isn’t  wise.  But  I  think,  brethren,  there 
are  'people  in  the  Conference  who  are  less  bold  than  I  am,  and 
who  say  privately  what  they  perhaps  will  not  say  publicly, 
that  they  question  the  wisdom  of  the  whole  business  from 
beginning  to  end;  that  in  place  of  the  old  beautiful  fellow¬ 
ship  and  questions  that  we  could  usually  agree  upon,  but 
which  we  needed  mutual  information  about,  we  have  now  a 
third  estate  in  the  missionary  world.  This  is  a  powerful  body 
that  you  are  forming,  and  the  inevitable  effect  of  the  changes 
which  are  proposed  will  be  in  the  end,  I  assume,  to  excite  seri¬ 
ous  misgivings  in  the  minds  of  a  good  many  people  as  to 
whether  it  does  not  defeat  the  purpose  for  which  the  Con¬ 
ference  was  originally  held.  There  is  also  another  body 
outside  of  the  missionary  circles — I  mean  outside  of  the 
group  of  specialists  of  which  we  are  supposed  to  compose  a 
part, — the  people  in  the  churches,  who  do  not  know  what  we 
are  doing  in  Garden  City.  There  are  no  publications  which 
enable  them  to  know.  But  if  this  Conference,  in  place  of 
being  what  its  name  implies,  is  really  to  be  a  very  complicated 
net  work  of  boards, — and  that  is  what  we  are  developing, — 
the  time  will  come  when  it  ought  to  be  published  and  when 
the  people  ought  to  know ;  and  I  am  sure  a  good  many  people 
will  feel  this  way:  that  the  control  of  the  missions  is  being 
slowly  removed,  unintentionally,  from  the  hands  of  those  who 
are  charged  before  God  with  their  conduct,  and  put  into  the 
hands  of  those  who,  though  they  do  not  mean  to  be,  are  ir¬ 
responsible  in  any  serious  way  for  the  way  in  which  they  con¬ 
duct  them.  I  only  express  my  own  judgment.  I  know  there 
are  others  who  feel  as  I  do.  They  might  not  perhaps  express 
it  as  I  have  expressed  it.  But  I  ask  you,  brethren,  if  it  is  not 
worth  while  to  wait  until  you  have  at  least  in  print  before  you 
exactly  what  is  proposed. 

The  Chairman  :  May  I  say  one  word,  if  you  will  allow  the 
Chair,  in  reference  to  the  ruling  which  has  been  called,  for. 
It  is  a  ruling  on  a  very  delicate  and  difficult  matter.  I  think 
it  only  fair  to  the  Conference  that  I  .should  give  in  a  word  my 
reason  for  ruling  as  I  did.  A  really  good-  chairman  never 
interprets  his  own  rulings,  but  we  are  here  as  a  Conference 
and  I  wish  you  to  understand  what  has  moved  me  to  make 
this  ruling.  The  subject  matter  that  was  given  as  I  heard  it 
in  the  alternative  plan  is  substantially  the  subject  matter  that 

18 


% 


is  in  the  first  plan.  There  is  nothing  new  except  in  the  order 
of  relationships.  Therefore  the  second  or  the  alternative  plan 
is  distinctly  the  first  plan  readjusted  in  ways  that  seem  to  the 
movers  of  the  substitute  rather  more  effective  than  the  first 
plan.  It  seemed  to  me  entirely  germane  to  the  first,  and  a 
matter  really  of  readjustment,  and  therefore  before  you  in  an 
Entirely  proper  way.  I  think  it  is  due  you  to  know  that  that 
is  the  consideration  in  my  mind. 

One  other  fact  before  you  is  that  you  must  not  fail  to  re¬ 
member,  that  nobody  has  taken  any  action  whatever  on  the 
printed  plan.  If  that  had  come  to  you  here  under  constitu¬ 
tional  provisions  with  boards  having  acted  upon  it,  and  had 
been  handed  down  to  you  to  take  coordinate  or  supplemental 
action  to  the  action  of  your  constituent  bodies,  it  would  be 
entirely  improper  to  rule  as  I  have  ruled ;  but,  as  a  matter  of 
fact,  all  that  your  constitution  has  called  for  is  that  notice  of 
these  proposed  changes — it  does  not  even  say  that  the  pro¬ 
posed  changes  in  exact  form  shall  be  placed  before  the  boards, 
but  notice  of  the  proposed  changes  shall  be  given  in  writing 
to  the  boards,  with  no  requirement  of  action  in  any  way  by 
them.  Because  of  these  two  facts,  it  seemed  to  me  entirely 
proper  to  rule  as  I  have  ruled. 

Mr.  John  W.  Wood:  Mr.  Chairman:  My  agreement  with 
Dr.  Fox  is  so  complete  that  I  very  sincerely  regret  that  every¬ 
thing  he  said  seemed  to  be  quite  out  of  order.  He  said  it 
very  well,  much  better  than  I  could  undertake  to  say  it ;  but 
it  seemed  to  me  that  the  immediate  matter  before  us  is  the 
question  as  to  whether  or  not  a  certain  proposition  made  in 
this  Alternative  Plan  should  be  amended.  If  we  can  get  a 
vote  upon  that,  then  I  would  like  to  find  some  way,  as  I  have 
been  waiting  to  find  some  way  to  bring  up  that  large  question 
which  Dr.  Fox  has  brought  up.  While  I  am  on  my  feet,  may 
I  venture  to  say,  while  not  proposing  to  be  learned  at  all  in 
parliamentary  law,  I  should  have  to  disagree  with  the  ruling 
of  the  Doctor  in  regard  to  the  introduction  of  this  alternative 
form.  I  think  it  is  also  true  that  while  boards  may  not  have 
acted  upon  the  originally  proposed  plan,  that  certain  groups 
of  officers  of  boards,  knowing  that  they  would  be  here  and 
would  have  to  act  for  their  board,  have,  as  is  the  case  with 
our  own  board,  considered  this  matter  and  made  up  their 
minds  with  regard  to  it.  Therefore,  to  bring  before  us  on  very 
short  notice  something  that  is,  if  not  entirely  different,  at  all 
events,  in  some  respects  very  radically  different,  seems  to  me 
hardly  in  accordance  with  the  procedure  provided  for  by  the 
constitution  of  the  Foreign  Missions  Conference.  If  we  can 


19 


get  a  vote  on  the  pending  question,  Mr.  Chairman,  I  would  like 
to  find  a  way  of  bringing  the  matter  up. 

Mr.  Drach  :  Mr.  Chairman,  is  a  motion  to  refer  in  order? 

The  Chairman:  We  are  acting  on  the  amendment. 

Mr.  Drach  :  I  know  there  is  a  motion  to  amend,  but  I  ask 
is  a  motion  to  refer  in  order? 

The  Chairman:  To  refer  what,  sir? 

Mr.  Drach  :  The  whole  substitute. 

The  Chairman:  I  think  not,  under  the  motion  to  amend. 

Mr.  Drach:  Is  there  a  motion  to  refer  the  whole  subject? 

The  Chairman:  To  refer  the  whole  subject?  You  have 
no  rules  of  order  here,  and  I  don’t  know  what  your  precedent 
is. 

Mr.  Drach  :  I  should  like  to  move,  Mr.  Chairman,  that  we 
refer  the  substitute  plan — not  the  original,  but  the  substitute 
plan — that  we  refer  the  substitute  plan  to  the  boards  for  their 
consideration,  and  bring  it  up  again  next  year  for  their  action. 

Motion  seconded  by  Mr.  John  W.  Wood. 

Mr.  Drach  :  We  can  act  on  the  printed  report,  as  we  have 
it  before  us.  I  think  it  will  be  the  wiser  procedure  if  we  will 
refer  this  substitute  to  the  boards  for  their  consideration,  and 
then  act  upon  it  next  year ;  because  this  is  a  radical  change. 
We  want  to  be  very  careful  how  we  proceed  in  this  matter, 
and  we  cannot  intelligently  act  on  it  on  the  spur  of  the  mo¬ 
ment.  I  think  my  motion  is  in  order,  that  we  refer  the  sub¬ 
stitute  amendment  that  has  been  proposed  to  the  boards  for 
their  consideration. 

Dr.  Swift  :  I  doubt  if  you  can  refer  a  substitute  that  has 
not  been  substituted.  I  am  quite  confident  this  substitute  must 
be  voted  upon  and  made  a  substitute.  There  is  nothing  before 
us  until  it  has  been  adopted. 

The  Chairman:  I  think  the  point  of  order  is  well  taken. 
And  I  believe  that  you  have  before  you  for  your  considera¬ 
tion  now  the  amendment  proposed  by  Dr.  Mott. 

Dr.  Wolf  :  Mr.  Chairman,  I  do  not  mean  to  agree  to  what 
was  said  here  in  regard  to  reference.  What  I  mean  to  call 
your  attention  to  and  upon  which  I  desire  you  to  rule  is  as  to 
whether  this  body  is  not  competent,  sir,  to  refer  the  matter 
back  to  the  Committee;  and  if  it  is  referred  back  to  the  Com¬ 
mittee,  then  we  can  wait? 

The  Chairman:  Is  there  further  comment  or  discussion 
of  the  amendment  to  substitute  24  for  21  ? 

Dr.  Barton:  Mr.  Chairman,  may  I  rise  to  a  point  of  order? 
Have  we  the  substitute  before  this  Conference  as  yet?  There 
has  been  no  motion  to  accept  the  substitute. 


20 


The  Chairman  :  The  motion  has  been  made  that  the  sub¬ 
stitute — a  motion  for  a  substitute  to  the  original  motion. 

Dr.  Barton  :  Did  the  Conference  accept  the  substitute  for 
the  original  motion? 

Chairman  North  :  It  has  been  moved. 

Dr.  George  Heber  Jones  :  The  record  is  that  Dr.  Barton 
presented  and  moved  this  substitute,  which  was  seconded  by 
Dr.  Haggard,  and  that  we  entered  into  a  discussion  of  it.  In 
the  course  of  the  discussion  Dr.  Mott  moved  the  amendment, 
and  we  are  in  process  of  perfecting  the  substitute  before  it  is 
up  before  us  for  action  either  pro  or  con. 

Mr.  Drach  :  That  is  precisely  the  position  I  was  taking ; 
therefore,  I  believe  my  motion  to  refer  is  in  order. 

(Calls  for  the  previous  question.) 

The  Chairman:  I  think  you  are  ready  to  vote  upon  the 
amendment,  because  that  is  not  a  very  substantial  part  of  the 
substitute.  It  is  a  matter  of  adjustment,  and  we  will  clear 
that  off  first. 

Dr.  Jones:  To  straighten  out  that  matter:  The  secretary 
understood  that  Mr.  Draoh  made  his  motion  to  refer  the  sub¬ 
stitute  to  the  boards,  which  was  seconded.  A  ruling  was 
called  for  from  the  chair,  and  the  chair  ruled  that  such  an 
action  was  not  in  order  at  this  time.  So  the  record  stands  that 
way. 

The  Chairman:  That  is  what  was  done. 

Mr.  E.  T.  Colton:  I  would  like  the  privilege  of  asking  if 
someone  representing  the  Committee  will  give  us  clearly  a 
statement  pointing  out  the  change  effected  by  the  alternate 
upon  the  printed  statement,  that  we  may  know  the  grounds 
upon  which  the  proposed  change  is  made. 

The  Chairman:  I  think  that  would  be  a  very  proper  ques¬ 
tion,  if  you  will  dispose  of  this  motion.  If  you  do  not  wish 
to  substitute  24  for  21,  you  can  vote  that  down. 

(Calls  for  question.) 

The  Chairman  :  As  many  as  favor  Dr.  Mott’s  amend¬ 
ment,  which  is  that  24  be  the  number  instead  of  21,  constitut¬ 
ing  the  Committee  of  Reference  and  Counsel,  as  provided  for 
in  the  substitute,  will  say  Aye.  (Responses  of  “Aye.”) 

Opposed,  No.  (Responses  of  “No.”) 

It  is  carried  and  becomes  a  part  of  the  substitute. 

Now  your  further  pleasure. 

Dr.  Swift:  I  would  like  to  ask  this  question:  Would  it  be 
proper  at  this  stage  for  the  Chairman  to  appoint  a  committee 
of  nine  out  of.  this  body,  including  some  from  the  Committee 
of  Reference  and  Counsel  and  Home  Base  Committee,  men  he 


21 


sees  before  him  competent  for  this  work,  to  refer  this  whole 
matter  with  instructions  to  report  as  soon  as  possible,  either 
tomorrow  morning  or  Friday  morning,  and  to  include  in  that 
report  whether  the  whole  matter  should  be  left  under  the 
procedure  that  we  have  had  in  past  years,  or  be  referred  to 
the  boards  and  report  next  year. 

Dr.  Goucher:  May  I  say,  Mr.  Chairman,  my  judgment  is 
that  it  is  not  so  necessary  that  we  pass  this  motion  or  report, 
as  it  is  that  we  continue  to  agree  on  procedure.  There  is  evi¬ 
dently  a  good  deal  of  question,  not  necessarily  opposition,  and 
this  could  be  removed  no  doubt  by  further  consideration.  I 
do  not  agree  with  the  last  suggestion  made,  to  put  it  into  new 
hands.  They  would  have  to  go  over  a  very  large  area  in  order 
to  come  to  the  knowledge  that  is  already  possessed  by  the 
committees  that  have  considered  it  so  wisely.  Therefore,  sir, 
I  desire  to  move  that  the  report  be  recommitted. 

(Motion  seconded.)  I  will  say  that  if  in  their  judgment 
they  desire  to  report  tomorrow,  it  will  be  competent  to  do  so, 
If  in  their  judgment  it  will  be  wise  to  postpone  it  for  a  year, 
they  are  at  liberty  to  do  so.  I  therefore  move  without  time 
simply  a  motion  to  recommit. 

The  Chairman:  May  I  ask  Dr.  Goucher  what  is  included 
in  his  motion? 

Dr.  Goucher:  To  recommit,  Mr.  Chairman,  everything  that 
is  before  the  house,  I  understand.  I  moved  the  previous  ques¬ 
tion  on  the  substitute ;  that  would  necessarily  carry  everything 
with  it.  My  proposal  is  to  recommit  everything  before  the 
house. 

The  Chairman:  Is  there  a  second  to  Dr.  Goucher’s  mo¬ 
tion  ? 

(Motion  seconded.) 

It  is  moved  and  seconded  that  the  amendment  be  recom¬ 
mitted. 

Dr.  Watson  :  Is  that  debatable  ? 

The  Chairman:  I  think  it  is. 

Dr.  Watson  :  I  would  like  to  raise  the  question  of  the  value 
of  this.  I  happen  to  be  one  of  the  unfortunate  members  whose 
names  are  signed  to  the  original  report;  and  if  time  will  pro¬ 
duce  any  greater  results,  I  certainly  would  be  favorable  to 
having  more  time  given.  But  I  really  do  not  see  where  we* 
are  going  to  get  any  more  light  unless  we  get  it  right  out  of 
this  body  now  or  at  some  appointed  time  in  the  program. 
There  are  no  persons  that  we  need  to  consult  other  than 
those  that  are  here.  We  have  endeavored  to  consult  everyone 
that  we  could  get  to  in  his  relation  to  a  committee  that  is  af- 


22 


fected  by  it  in  anything  like  a  vital  way.  Now  this  Commit¬ 
tee  has  been  at  work  for  a  year  trying  to  gather  together  dif¬ 
ferent  views, — not  actively,  of  course,  all  the  year,  but  you 
will  recall  that  a  year  ago  we  had — if  my  mind  is  at  all  cor¬ 
rect  in  its  recollections — as  much  as  five  solid  hours  of  con¬ 
ferences  of  committees  and  groups  of  committees  on  this  ques¬ 
tion.  Furthermore,  there  was  a  committee  meeting  that  draft¬ 
ed  the  printed  report  that  was  sent  out.  Naturally  there  were 
echoes  that  came  in :  This  thing  did  not  seem  suitable,  that 
thing  did  not  seem  practicable.  It  was  our  duty  as  your  ser¬ 
vants  to  gather  together  those  suggestions  and  endeavor  to 
bring  them  into  a  shape  that  would  satisfy  the  critics  of  the 
first  proposal;  and  that  is  all  that  the  second  proposal  has  in 
it.  It  simply  is  the  first  proposal  with  those  changes  that  are 
made  in  order  to  meet  the  criticisms  of  the  first  proposal  that 
came  echoing  back  to  us  between  the  time  that  it  was  sent 
out  and  the  time  of  this  meeting  ;  and  naturally  it  was  impos¬ 
sible  to  get  together  and  formulate  remedies  for  all  these  faults 
th^t  had  been  found  in  the  proposal,  until  the  time  that  men 
were  coming  together  for  this  Conference.  So  that  it  is  nat¬ 
urally  in  this  form  that  we  have  it.  I  wish  we  had  it  in  type¬ 
written  form  or  in  printed  form,  and  it  may  be  possible  for  us 
to  get  it  that  way  before  you  before  the  Conference  is  finished ; 
but  this  was  our  place  in  the  program  to  present  it,  and  we 
wanted  light- and  discussion  on  it.  We  cannot  make  headway, 
unless  we  get  more  light ;  and  rather  than  recommit  it,  it  seems 
to  me  that  we  ought  here  this  afternoon  just  to  discuss  it  in 
its  large  and  central  way.  Now  I  wish  that  we  might  by 
some  process  get  at  the  very  centre  of  the  discussion  instead 
of  dealing  with  details. 

I  believe  that  Dr.  Fox,  who  has  spoken,  represents  one 
view  of  this  Conference ;  and  there  is  the  other  view  of  the 
Conference.  One  can  think  of  this  Conference  as  it  was  in 
the  early  days  when  we  did  live  the  simple  life.  I  have  not 
been  a  member  of  the  Conference  long,  but  I  have  been  a 
member  long  enough  to  note  the  difference,  the  change  that 
has  taken  place.  It  was  a  simple  life.  It  was  a  little  bit  like 
an  African  palaver — and  I  was  born  in  Africa — and  it  is  al¬ 
together  a  delightful  form  of  gathering, — a  general  discussion 
of  things,  without  any  action,  without  responsibility  and  with¬ 
out  the  formulating  of  plans  and  policies  for  execution.  But 
some  way  or  other  we  have  drifted  away  from  that.  We  have 
a  great  body  of  activities  here  that  are  being  presented,  and 
you  applaud  them  and  you  appreciate  them  and  you  say  they 
are  worth  while.  Well,  now,  you  simply  cannot  have  these 
activities,  as  far  as  some  of  us  see,  unless  you  have  the  com- 


23 


’  • 


mittees  that  will  take  care  of  them.  Some  of  us  feel  that  we 
do  need  to  have  definition,  that  there  is  danger  of  things  run¬ 
ning  away  with  too  much  authority;  but  it  is  just  the  definition 
that  we  want.  We  are  bound  to  have  committees.  An  unde¬ 
fined  committee  is  a  dangerous  thing.  When  we  bring  in 
definitions,  we  want  to  have  them  considered,  therefore  we  set 
the  thing  frankly  before  you  all.  We  do  not  want  to  spring 
any  change  here.  We  do  not  want  to  force  a  judgment.  We 
all  want  to  come  together  in  agreement  as  to  what  we  are 
going  to  make  out  of  this  Conference  as  we  face  some  re¬ 
sponsibilities  that  come  with  great  opportunities.  Just  think 
of  it  financially.  Our  budget  ten  years  ago  was  about  $2,500. 
This  last  year  we  were  administering  $70,000.  It  is  there; 
you  cannot  eliminate  it.  It  is  there,  and  you  must  mark  the 
channels  that  will  carry  these  things  and  that  will  hold  them 
with  safety.  That  is  why  I  plead  against  a  recommital  and 
for  an  open  clear  discussion  here  this  afternoon  or  at  some 
other  time  in  the  program. 

The  Chairman  :  It  is  my  duty  to  say  to  you  that  the  order 
of  the  day  has  come  and  is  long  past,  a  most  important  order. 
It  will  be  for  the  Conference  (to  say  whether  it  will  continue 
this  discussion.  , 

Dr.  Bartholomew  :  Is  this  suggestion  in  order :  Will  it  not 
be  possible  to  have  it  printed?  If  I  had  it  in  Philadelphia  I 
could  have  it  printed  tomorrow  morning.  I  understand  there 
is  a  big  printing  establishment  right  in  Garden  City.  Isn’t  it 
possible  to  have  it  printed? 

Dr.  Jones  :  I  do  not  know,  Mr.  Chairman.  We  can  in¬ 
quire  in  regard  to  that  and  find  out  immediately  and  let  the 
Conference  know. 

Dr.  Bartholomew  :  I  will  take  it  to  Philadelphia. 

Chairman  North  :  The  status  of  the  question  is  that  a 
motion  to  recommit  is  before  you.  Are  you  ready  for  that 
motion  ? 

(Question  called  for.) 

Chairman  North  :  As  many  as  will  recommit  the  report 
with  the  substitute  to  the  Committee  for  its  further  action,  will 
say  Aye.  (Responses  of  “Aye.”) 

Opposed,  No.  (Responses  of  “No.”) 

I  think  there  were  more  Ayes  and  louder  Nos. 

(Rising  vote  called  for.) 

As  many  as  are  in  favor  of  recommitting  will  please  rise 
and  be  counted.  (Members  rise  and  are  counted.) 

Be  seated,  please.  As  many  as  are  opposed  to  recommittal, 
will  please  rise.  (Members  rise  and  are  counted.) 

I  think  »there  is  no  doubt  about  it.  The  motion  to  recommit 


24 


is  lost  by  a  vote  of  50  to  27.  I  should  add  that  you  are  not 
only  louder,  but  more  numerous. 

Dr.  Jones:  Mr.  Chairman,  I  was  going  to  ask  if  it  might 
not  be  well,  if  it  is  the  sense  of  the  body  to  continue  the  dis¬ 
cussion,  to  move  that  the  time  be  extended. 

Dr.  Haggard:  I  was  going  to  make  the  motion  for  future 
discussion  or  extension  of  time.  It  seems  to  me  that  we 
could  have  a  little  time  to  talk  of  it  privately  or  discuss  it 
later.  I  would  move,  therefore,  that  either  this  Committee  be 
asked  to  arrange  with  the  Business  Committee  for  a  future 
hour,  or  that  the  Business  Committee  be  asked  to  arrange  for 
a  future  hour,  whichever  to  the  chair  would  seem  best,  and  to 
report  tonight  or  at  a  later  hour.  I  make  that  motion. 

The  Chairman:  Do  I  understand  you  desire  to  lay  this 
whole  report  on  the  table? 

Dr.  Haggard  :  I  move  that  the  matter  be  laid  upon  the 
table  until  tomorrow  morning,  the  Business  Committee  to  ar¬ 
range  in  the  meantime  an  hour. 

The  Chairman:  Is  there  any  second  to  that  motion? 

Dr.  Jones:  Mr.  Chairman,  it  should  be  the  Committee  of 
Arrangements.  They  have  the  control  of  the  program. 

Dr.  Haggard:  Yes;  the  Committee  of  Arrangements. 

(Motion  seconded.) 

Dr.  Haggard  :  It  seems  to  me  better  to  do  that  than  to  ex¬ 
tend  the  time,  because  we  are  not  now  in  a  position  to  dis¬ 
cuss  it. 

The  Chairman  :  I  think  the  motion  is  fully  understood, 
that  the  whole  subject  be  laid  upon  the  table  to  be  taken  up  by 
suggestion  of  the  Committee  of  Arrangements  at  some  time 
tomorrow  morning  for  further  consideration. 

(Motion  put.) 

Dr.  Endicott  :  Mr.  Chairman,  I  believe  there  is  a  misun¬ 
derstanding. 

The  Chairman  :  What  is  it? 

Dr.  Endicott  :  I  think  it  is  a  misunderstanding  on  the  part 
of  the  other  folk.  It  is  this:  If  we  had  carried  the  motion  to 
recommit,  sir,  the  question  would  be  now  in  the  hands  of  that 
committee  and  they  could  bring  it  back  here  again  at  any  time. 
Now,  we  clearly  indicated  our  wish  not  to  recommit.  That 
is  clear  enough,  an  overwhelming  vote.  But  the  effect  of  this 
is  to  recommit,  and  not  to  recommit  so  effectively. 

The  Chairman:  The  Conference  will  recall  that  whatever 
reference  is  made  is  to  the  Committee  of  Arrangements  and 
not  to  the  Committee  presenting  the  report,  and  the  report  is 
on  the  table.  Will  you  take  it  from  the  table? 


25 


Dr.  Endicott  :  All  I  meant  was,  I  believe  the  friends  did 
not  quite  understand.  If  it  had  been  recommitted  to  that 
Committee,  that  Committee  could  do  some  effective  work  in 
the  interim  and  bring  it  up  here;  but  if  it  is  referred  to  them, 
it  is  simply  recommitted  as  far  as  this  Conference  is  concerned 
to  be  brought  up  dc  novo  again  with  the  same  old  mixup  we 
have  this  afternoon.  I  think  if  the  friends  had  been  wisely 
instructed  by  somebody — (A  few  words  inaudible  because  of 
laughter) . 

The  Chairman:  There  again  I  must  remind  you  that  you 
must  always  consider  the  habitat  of  the  speaker. 

Dr.  Arthur  J.  Brown  :  Inasmuch  as  there  is  a  very  care¬ 
fully  prepared  special  program  on  unoccupied  fields,  occupy¬ 
ing  the  entire  forenoon,  which  it  would  be  a  great  pity  to 
break  into,  would  not  Dr.  Haggard  make  that  afternoon  in¬ 
stead  of  forenoon  ? 

The  Chairman:  I  presume  Dr.  Haggard  will  interpret 
that  as  applying  to  leaving  it  to  the  Committee  of  Arrange¬ 
ments  to  introduce  it  at  the  proper  time  tomorrow. 

Dr.  Haggard  :  Provided  it  does  not  take  away  any  time 
from  the  Home  Base  Committee. 

The  Chairman:  You  have  disposed  of  it  temporarily  at 
least,  and  it  is  on  the  table,  and  the  Committee  of  Arrange¬ 
ments  will  plan  for  the  re-introduction  of  the  business. 

The  item  before  us  is  the  report  of  the  Committee  of  Ref¬ 
erence  and  Counsel. 


Thursday  Afternoon 

The  Chairman:  It  is  not  perfectly  easy  to  come  out  of 
such  hours  as  we  had  together  this  morning,  and  deal  with 
the  practical  details  of  our  administrative  work.  But  as  you 
share  with  me  in  my  own  convictions  you  will  feel  that  it  is 
just  as  holy  a  thing  to  shape  the  resolutions  and  provide  com¬ 
mittee  organizations  as  it  is  to  study  what  we  did  this  morn¬ 
ing.  If  we  can  take  the  lessons  that  were  given  us  and  “see 
the  face  of  Jesus  Christ  on  the  map”  we  ought  to  see  the  face 
of  Jesus  Christ  in  every  resolution  or  printed  report  that  comes 
before  us  for  our  consideration.  I  am  not  here  to  preach, 
but  I  am  here  to  say  that  unless  we  can  come  in  that  spirit  in 
dealing  with  all  these  matters  that  come  to  us  in  this  and  every 
other  conference,  it  seems  to  me  that  we  have  not  gotten  into 
the  depth  of  His  purpose  and  are  not  willing  to  ally  ourselves 
with  His  will.  So  my  prayer  has  been  that  we  shall  not  let 
down  to  a  lower  level  as  we  come  to  this  afternoon  but  that 


26 


we  shall  feel  that  God  is  just  as  really  guiding  us  now  as  we 
feel  He  was  guiding  us  by  His  spirit  in  the  early  part  of  this 
day.  May  God  grant  that  this  may  be  so. 

In  the  program  presented  to  us  by  the  Committee  of  Ar¬ 
rangements  this  is  the  proper  time  to  consider  the  report  pre¬ 
pared  by  Dr.  Patton  that  was  laid  upon  the  table  to  be  taken 
up  when  the  printed  matter  was  before  you  and  the  Com¬ 
mittee  ready  to  report.  If  it  be  your  mind,  that  this  is  the 
suitable  time,  let  us  take  from  the  table  the  subject  laid  there 
yesterday. 

Dr.  Haggard:  I  so  move;  (this  was  agreed  to.) 

The  Chairman  :  What  we  have  before  us  is  the  report  of 
the  Committee  on  changing  the  Constitution,  and  under  that 
the  substitute  matter  which  was  under  discussion,  the  motion 
being  that  the  substitute  be  adopted.  That  matter  is  now  be¬ 
fore  you.  I  presume  that  you  will  wish  first  to  hear  from  Dr. 
Patton. 

Dr.  Patton  :  I  hope  each  member  may  have  a  copy  of  the 
printed  report  of  the  Alternative  Plan.  If  you  think  the  age 
of  miracles  has  passed,  I  want  to  call  attention  to  the  fact 
that  we  put  that  rather  scrubby  manuscript  in  the  hands  of 
Mr.  Fahs,  and  in  two  hours’  time  he  had  it  back  in  print  right 
here  in  Garden  City. 

The  Committee  have  asked  me  to  make  a  few  statements 
to  get  this  before  you.  To  a  large  extent  this  is  not  a  revis¬ 
ion  nor  a  change  at  all.  It  is  all  old  material.  The  changes 
are  not  nearly  so  formidable  as  you  imagine.  It  is  much  easier 
to  get  these  amendments  by  asking  you  for  a  substitute  in¬ 
stead  of  asking  you  item  by  item.  But  in  putting  it  to  you,  we 
had  to  reprint  a  large  part  of  our  constitution  under  these 
three  heads,  “Committees,”  “Duties  of  Committees,”  and  “Com¬ 
mittee  Reports.”  We  might  call  attention  to  the  amount  of 
old  material  involving  no  change  whatever. 

COMMITTEES 

“Standing  committee  shall  be  so  appointed  that  the  terms  of 
office  of  one-third  of  the  members  of  each  committee  shall 
expire  each  year,  etc.”  Here  only  a  few  verbal  changes  have 
been  made  by  way  of  making  a  little  more  plain  the  principle 
of  rotation  in  office.  Practically  it  has  been  the  principle  we 
have  been  working  upon.  The  paragraph  having  to  do  with 
the  Business  Committee  is  absolutely  the  same  as  we  have 
always  had.  Instead  of  having  a  Committee  of  Arrangements 
this  Committee  work  has  been  assigned  to  the  Committee  of 
Reference  and  Counsel,  for  reasons  which  will  appear  later  on. 
The  granting  of  executive  power  to  the  Committee  of  Refer- 


27 


ence  and  Counsel  some  seem  to  think  is  something  new.  That 
has  been  our  executive  Committee  for  six  or  seven  years  and 
the  Committee  of  Reference  and  Counsel  has  been  acting  fully 
within  its  powers  in  all  these  things,  following  definite  instruc¬ 
tions  of  the  Conference.  We  have  adopted  word  by  word  the 
present  constitutional  provision. 

“The  Committee  of  Reference  and  Counsel  shall  also  act 
for  the  Conference  ad  interim  in  all  matters  calling  for  ex¬ 
ecutive  action,  in  so  far  as  definite  authority  and  power  may 
not  have  been  committed  to  other  regular  or  special  com¬ 
mittees.” 

The  definition  of  the  duties  of  the  sub-committee  of  Refer¬ 
ence  and  Counsel  on  “Foreign  Afifairs,”  is  word  by  word  from 
our  present  constitution,  defining  the  powers  of  Reference  and 
Counsel,  except  that  it  does  not  include  the  executive  state¬ 
ment,  but  that  is  exactly  your  definition  today  of  the  Com¬ 
mittee  of  Reference  and  Counsel.  This  will  be  a  sub-Com- 
mittee  of  the  Committee  of  Reference  and  Counsel. 

The  definition  of  the  duties  of  the  Home  Base  is  word  by 
word  from  our  present  constitution.  The  duties  of  the  Finance 
Committee  is  practically  the  same.  We  simply  retain  what  we 
have  always  done.  Then  the  Committee  on  the  Religious 
Needs  of  Anglo-American  Communities  in  Mission  Fields,  is 
word  for  word  as  it  was.  The  Committees  on  Nominations 
and  Credentials  we  have  combined.  We  thought  we  might 
save  a  little  unnecessary  machinery  in  that  way.  Then  in  the 
matter  of  Committee  reports  that  is  word  by  word  as  you 
have  it  in  this  present  constitution,  except  that  we  have  omit¬ 
ted  the  opening  sentence  which  limits  all  reports  to  fifteen 
minutes,  except  the  Reference  and  Counsel  which  has  thirty. 
That  has  not  been  followed  in  recent  years. 

Now  what  have  we  done  in  the  way  of  change?  Someone 
said  we  ought  to  go  back  to  the  earliest  days.  In  the  early 
days  we  had  only  general  committees,  Home  and  Foreign 
Committees  and  the  like,  and  we  are  going  back  to  that,  hav¬ 
ing  one  general  committee  so  as  to  coordinate  everything,  but 
we  are  making  that  Committee  much  more  representative  and 
larger  than  it  was.  More  of  the  boards  can  have  represen¬ 
tation  than  has  been  the  case  in  some  time.  We  find  a  call 
for  that.  That  is  the  only  change  of  any  moment  that  we  are 
t  making.  We  are  not  adding  a  single  new  power  to  any  com¬ 
mittee.  We  are  simply  bringing  together  existing  committees 
into  a  representative  group  which  you  will  elect  and  which 
shall  have  to  report  to  you. 

I  do  not  know,  Mr.  Chairman,  as  I  need  to  make  any  fur- 

28 


ther  explanations.  There  are  other  members  of  the  committee 
who  are  quite  as  familiar  with  the  matter  as  I  am.  We  shall 
be  glad  to  have  frank  discussion  of  it.  I  think  there  is  great 
danger  of  thinking  it  is  more  radical  and  mysterious  than  it 
really  is. 

The  Chairman  :  The  matter  is  now  before  you  for  dis¬ 
cussion. 

Mr.  Drach  :  I  have  been  thinking  of  these  changes  in  the 
constitution.  Last  night  while  I  lay  awake  where  I  could 
hear  the  splash  and  clatter  of  the  rain,  and  the  throbbing  of 
the  engine,  as  it  were  the  pulse  beat  of  the  hotel,  and  through¬ 
out  the  morning  hours,  I  have  thought  much  of  these  matters. 
I  represent  only  a  small  board.  I  am,  as  it  were,  following  in 
the  great  procession  far  behind,  perhaps  now  and  then 
uttering  a  bark  or  probably  a  snarl,  but  I  want  to  be  some¬ 
where  in  the  procession. 

I  think  that  we  ought  to  refresh  our  memory  a  little.  Mem¬ 
ory  is  an  odd  chap  that  plays  us  funny  tricks  sometimes.  I 
think  we  have  passed  the  cross-roads  and  we  have  gone  off  on 
a  side  road  and  it  is  time  for  us  to  come  back  to  the  cross¬ 
roads.  What  I  mean  is  this,  that  we  had  in  the  beginning  a 
very  different  ideal  for  this  Foreign  Mission  Conference  than 
we  have  today,  and  I  am  convinced  that  there  are  grave  dang¬ 
ers  in  making  the  Conference  so  such  more  and  more  execu¬ 
tive  and  legislative.  I  think  the  responsibilities  and  the  duties 
of  executive  work  may  be  relegated  to  the  off-shoots  of  the 
Conference  like  the  Laymen’s  Missionary  Movement,  the  Mis¬ 
sionary  Education  Movement,  the  Board  of  Missionary  Pre¬ 
paration.  But  the  Conference  as  a  Conference  ought,  I  be¬ 
lieve,  to  remain  purely  and  distinctly  a  deliberative  body,  a 
body  that  considers  the  great  problems  of  Missions  and  that 
seeks  instructions  and  inspiration  such  as  we  got  this  morning. 

There  was  a  time  when  we  of  the  smaller  bodies  felt  more 
at  home  than  we  do  now.  We  were  not  asked  “What  do  you 
represent?”  or  “How  much  money  do  you  represent?”  I 
think  that  the  value  of  the  fellowship  of  this  Conference  was 
that  though  we  felt  ourselves  small,  the  big  men  did  not  treat 
us  as  small  men.  I  fear  me  that  there  is  in  the  Conference 
something  of  our  “Modern”  spirit.  It  is  growing  in  this  Con¬ 
ference  and  it  ought  not  to  grow,  this  right  of  the  bigger  man 
over  the  smaller  man,  of  the  bigger  nation  over  the  smaller 
nation  instead  of  the  privilege  and  the  obligation  of  the  big¬ 
ger  men  to  help  the  smaller  men  and  the  privilege  of  the  big¬ 
ger  nation  to  help  the  smaller  nation — these  are  matters  about 
which  we  should  give  more  thought  in  this  Conference.  There 
was  where  we  small  men  felt  our  joy  and  privilege  and  op- 


29 


portunity  in  this  Conference,  that  we  were  looked  upon  as 
those  who  were  to  be  helped  and  we  did  receive  help,  and  we 
hope  to  receive  help  from  this  Conference. 

One  more  step,  and  that  is  the  incorporation  of  this  Com¬ 
mittee  of  Reference  and  Counsel,  and  you  have  gone  entirely 
too  far  as  a  Foreign  Mission  Conference,  and  the  day  may 
come,  I  hope  it  never  will  come,  when  there  will  be  apart 
from  this  Conference  some  other  Conference.  I  hope  it  will 
never  come,  but  you  can  push  this  too  far.  Let  the  Confer¬ 
ence  remain  as  it  has  been,  remain  a  deliberative  Conference 
when  we  come  together  for  fellowship  and  discussion  of  great 
problems. 

As  far  as  this  Alternative  Plan  is  concerned  it  means  that 
everything  shall  be  concentrated  in  the  Committee  of  Refer¬ 
ence  and  Counsel.  The  Committee  of  Reference  and  Counsel 
appoints  all  the  other  committees ;  all  the  other  committees  re¬ 
port  to  it.  The  whole  thing  is  relegated  into  the  hands  of  one 
Committee.  There  is  no  distribution  of  duties.  These  Com¬ 
mittees  will  not  report  to  the  Foreign  Mission  Conference; 
they  will  report  to  'the  Committee  on  Reference  and  Counsel. 
I  think  there  is  great  danger  in  that.  I  think  it  was  a  wise  step 
when  we  took  certain  duties  from  the  Committee  of  Refer¬ 
ence  and  Counsel  and  delegated  them  to  the  other  committees. 
I  am  against  this  Alternative  Plan.  I  am  going  to  vote  for 
the  original  motion.  These  two  propositions  are  diametrically 
opposed.  Someone  said  to  me  some  time  ago  that  the  Confer¬ 
ence  is  getting  to  be  a  Conference  rather  of  a  little  group  of 
men.  I  think  that  is  true.  I  think  it  is  not  a  necessary  evil. 
It  is  a  good  thing  in  some  respects  to  have  prominent  and 
strong  leaders,  and  I  am  willing  to  be  a  follower  of  them,  but 
I  do  believe  there  are  many  men  in  this  Conference  to  whom 
duties  can  be  referred  who  will  prove  faithful  and  intelligent 
servants  of  this  Missionary  Convention,  and  it  will  be  a  wise 
thing  for  us  not  to  adopt  this  Alternative  Plan.  The  next 
thing  will  be  the  incorporation  of  this  committee.  It  will  be 
better  that  we  distribute  our  duties  or  increase  the  committees 
to  such  an  extent  that  almost  all  of  us,  not  ten  out  of  the  whole 
number  of  delegates,  or  twenty  only,  but  almost  all  of  us  will 
have  something  to  do  in  connection  with  the  work  of  this 
Conference. 

Dr.  Patton  :  The  Committee  on  Nominations  will  be  held 
up  until  we  reach  some  decision  in  this  matter.  They  will  want 
to  know  on  what  basis  to  make  nominations. 

The  Chairman:  I  will  give  Dr.  Good,  who  now  has  the 
floor  all  the  time  he  wants,  but  for  the  remainder  of  our  ses- 


30 


sion  I  would  like  to  raise  the  question  as  to  whether  or  not  we 
shall  limit  the  time  that  an  individual  may  speak. 

Dr.  Swift:  I  move  five  minutes  for  the  first  speech  and 
two  minutes  for  the  second  one,  should  the  same  person  speak 
twice.  (Voted.) 

Dr.  Good  :  I  do  not  want  to  talk  more  than  five  minutes.  I 
rise  to  be  an  objector,  which  I  very  rarely  do.  I  remember 
in  the  early  days  of  this  Conference  that  they  wanted  criti¬ 
cism.  I  am  ready  to  be  the  critic.  I  do  not  like  this  plan  for 
the  reason  that  it  resolves  this  Conference  into  a  Committee, 
a  Conference  run  by  a  Committee.  You  have  one  committee 
reporting  to  another  committee  and  a  committee  reporting 
back.  What  is  the  use  of  the  rest  of  the  Conference?  That 
is  the  issue.  Now  the  point  I  raise  is  this.  This  Conference 
has  been  running  very  smoothly.  I  have  no  criticism  to  make 
of  the  leaders  of  the  Conference,  except  that  unconsciously 
they  have  gotten  into  this  groove  and  you  have  very  much 
the  same  men  on  committees  all  the  time.  We  have  splendid 
leaders,  but  how  about  the  rest?  I  know  one  board  that  has 
been  in  this  Conference  almost  since  the  beginning  and  has 
never  had  a  member  on  any  prominent  committee.  I  heard  a 
rumor  today — I  do  not  know  whether  I  should  mention  it — 
that  about  one-half  the  boards  have  not  'been  represented  on 
the  committee.  Mr.  President,  it  seems  to  me  there  is  a  very 
vital  point  at  stake  in  the  position  of  this  Conference.  Are 
you  going  to  make  it  a  committee  Conference,  or  a  Conference 
— a  spontaneous  Conference?  There  ought  to  be  some  oppor¬ 
tunity  for  the  Conference  itself  to  do  its  appointing  of  com¬ 
mittees  somewhere.  Another  would  be  that  the  spontaneity 
and  freedom  and  democracy  of  the  early  Conference — those 
were  simple  days,  but  they  were  delightful  days — should  be 
preserved.  We  do  not  wish  the  sort  of  a  close  corporation 
such  as  you  are  beginning  to  make  here.  That  may  be  neces¬ 
sary,  but  I  do  have  objection  to  repressing  the  spontaneity  of 
this  Conference  by  running  it  as  a  machine. 

Mr.  James  Wood:  When  the  subject  of  incorporation  was 
under  consideration  the  statement  was  made  that  it  would  be 
desirable  to  defer  action  until  next  year  in  order  that  there 
might  be  consideration  and  a  statement  as  to  the  object  and 
purpose  of  the  Conference.  I  do  not  remember  whether  or 
not  any  action  was  taken,  but  it  seems  to  be  the  concensus  of 
opinion  that  at  that  Conference  a  committee  would  be  appoint¬ 
ed  to  revise  the  constitution. 

The  Chairman  :  That  action  has  been  taken. 

Mr.  Tames  Wood:  Now  that  the  action  has  been  taken,  it 
seems  to  me  very  unwise  to  adopt  at  this  time  any  constitu- 


3i 


tional  regulations  that  will  greatly  embarrass  the  committee, 
or  the  revision  of  the  constitution.  If  this  action  is  taken  to¬ 
day  it  will  be  binding  upon  this  committee  and  they  will  be 
forced  to  include  this  in  their  report.  That  committee  should 
be  absolutely  free  to  make  a  draft  of  such  a  constitution  as 
will  suit  the  situation.  Possibly  it  may  hold  some  of  the  views 
just  expressed  on  the  other  side  of  the  house.  To  adopt  any¬ 
thing  of  this  kind  at  this  time  seems  to  me  to  be  very  imprac¬ 
ticable  and  unwise.  I  therefore  move,  Mr.  Chairman,  that 
the  proposition  now  before  the  house  be  referred  to  the  Com¬ 
mittee  on  the  Revision  of  the  Constitution. 

Dr.  Drach  :  Is  there  such  a  committee  on  the  revision  of 
the  constitution? 

The  Chairman:  There  is  a  committee  to  define  the  func¬ 
tions  and  purposes  of  this  Conference.  If  it  were  found  wise 
the  committee  would  formulate  what  would  be  presented  as 
a  revision  of  the  constitution. 

Dr.  Jones  :  The  motion  was  that  the  committee  be  consti¬ 
tuted  to  define  the  functions  and  purposes  of  this  Conference. 
That  was  the  substance  of  the  motion.  Its  powers  are  there¬ 
fore  defined  in  its  name. 

Dr.  E.  L.  Smith  :  I  think  that  its  report  was  to  be  drawn 
up  in  such  form  as  could  be  incorporated  in  the  constitution. 

Mr.  Mornay  Williams:  My  recollection  was  that  a  com¬ 
mittee  be  appointed  who  should  prepare  such  a  statement  of 
the  powers  and  authority  which  necessarily  would  carry  some 
reference  to  the  statement  already  contained  in  our  constitu¬ 
tion  and  which  therefore  carries  with  it  the  power  to  so  far 
amend  the  constitution  as  to  define  more  clearly  the  consti¬ 
tution.  It  does  already  define  the  powers  of  the  Conference 
as  a  whole  and  its  relation  to  the  various  bodies  that  send 
delegates  to  it.  I  want  in  addition  to  say,  Mr.  Chairman,  that 
I  feel  very  strongly  what  has  been  said  by  Mr.  Wood  that  a 
delay  in  this  matter  can  not  really  injure  the  vital  interests  of 
the  propositions  that  are  submitted  to  us.  I  am  not  going  to 
debate  the  original  proposition  or  the  Alternative  Plan.  I 
might  be  prepared  to  indorse  one  or  the  other  of  them.  But 
personally  I  should  like  to  have  more  time  to  consider.  I 
feel  very  strongly  the  points  urged  on  behalf  of  the  smaller 
bodies,  because  the  body  with  which  I  happen  to  be  associated 
is  one  of  the  larger  ones,  but  as  representing  one  of  those 
bodies  who  send  delegates  up  here,  I  feel  that  we  ought  to 
show  that  we  take  the  largest  opportunity  of  acquainting  our 
constituency  with  the  tendencies  that  are  developing.  Now 
these  tendencies  may  be  entirely  healthy.  I  am  not  prepared 
to  debate  that.  It  may  be  that  it  is  absolutely  essential  that 


32 


we  should  crystallize  into  the  forms  of  committee  government 
that  are  indicated  by  these  two  plans.  But  on  the  other  hand 
it  is  not  well  that  that  action  should  be  taken  except  with  the 
clear  understanding,  of  all  the  constituent  bodies.  They  ought 
to  be  informed  of  what  we  are  doing.  On  the  other  hand  just 
one  word  as  to  what  these  bodies  may  think  of  us.  I  want  to 
point  out  that  some  of  the  greatest  reforms  in  all  lines  of 
work,  to  speak  out  of  our  own  experience,  have  been  brought 
about  by  bodies  that  were  entirely  deliberative  and  not  execu¬ 
tive.  My  own  experience  is  largely  with  the  National  Con¬ 
ference  of  Charities  and  Correction.  In  the  last  fifty  or  sixty 
years  that  body  has  brought  about  an  entire  change  in  many 
of  the  institutions  with  which  we  work,  reformatory  insti¬ 
tutions  and  the  like.  But  it  has  done  it  not  in  spite  of  the 
fact  but  because  of  the  fact  that  those  interested  in  these  re¬ 
forms  could  not  place  any  resolutions  on  the  minutes  of  their 
Conference.  That  Conference  by  its  constitution  made  it 
impossible  that  any  resolution  should  be  carried  when  we 
could  not  get  together  as  men  and  women  permeated  with  the 
same  spirit  in  the  same  work.  The  important  thing  was  that 
we  got  together.  It  seems  to  me  that  we  ought  to  take  all  the 
time  necessary,  have  all  the  publicity  in  order  to  consider  this 
plan  and  advise  with  those  whom  we  represent.  I  say  it 
because  I  believe  we  ought  to  have  the  carefullest  and  wisest 
proceeding  taken. 

Dr.  Watson  :  I  would  like  to  speak  as  one  of  those  who 
have  labored  during  the  year  in  the  preparation  of  this  or  of 
some  other  change  in  our  arrangements  and  also  as  a  member 
of  the  Committee  of  Reference  and  Counsel — and  as  a  rep¬ 
resentative  of  a  very  small  board. 

I  think  we  ought  well  to  remember  that  the  Committee  of 
Reference  and  Counsel  has  not  sought  this  change.  The  Com¬ 
mittee,  as  you  have  already  constituted  it  was  ready  to  go  on 
in  the  carrying  out  of  its  work  by  the  former  method.  But 
there  were  criticisms  of  the  machinery  of  our  committee  work 
because  of  over-lapping  and  failure  to  have  work  properly 
correlated.  That  came  altogether  from  outside  the  Committee 
of  Reference  and  Counsel.  It  came  out  of  the  Conference 
itself.  It  was  the  feeling  that  there  ought  to  be  a  change 
made,  so  I  hope  it  will  be  understood  that  the  Committee  of 
Reference  and  Counsel  has  not  sought  any  of  these  changes. 
And  not  only  that,  but  I  feel  that  in  these  changes  there  is 
the  emphasis  on  the  democratic  spirit  and  principle.  It  amazes 
me  to  hear  some  of  the  things  said  because  everything  has 
been  done  in  the  opposite  direction.  The  Committee  of  Ref¬ 
erence  and  Counsel  is  a  small  organization.  It  will  have 


33 


but  twenty-four  members.  It  had  certain  of  these  authori¬ 
ties  all  by  itself.  Now  it  is  having  them  with  all  the  others. 
The  Committee  of  Reference  and  Counsel,  so  far  as  its  mem¬ 
bership  is  concerned,  was  not  anxious  about  continuing  in  the 
organization.  With  the  adoption  of  this  plan  the  Nominating 
Committee  has  a  chance  to  change  the  Committee  organization 
altogether,  whereas  if  we  go  on  with  the  old  scheme  only 
one-third  will  be  changed.  You  can  change  the  whole  crowd. 
Now,  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  small  organization  I  feel 
the  things  Mr.  Drach  has  mentioned  need  to  be  safeguarded. 
They  are  extremely  important.  I  think  1  share  some  of  his 
sensitiveness.  We  who  belong  to  small  bodies  would  not  want 
to  be  made  uncomfortable  because  we  are  small  and  belong  to 
small  bodies,  but  I  want  to  give  this  testimony  to  the  wondrous 
generousness  of  the  big  boards.  Look  at  our  constitution !  Look 
at  the  way  you  have  given  representation  and  all  that  sort  of 
thing.  It  is  reduced  as  you  get  into  the  larger  bodies.  You 
do  not  have  increased  representation  on  the  basis  of  the  of¬ 
ficial  nominal  budget.  I  want  to  testify  to  that,  as  repre¬ 
senting  one  of  the  small  boards.  But  these  difficulties  raised 
by  Mr.  Drach  and  Dr.  Good  seem  to  me  to  relate  especially 
to  the  thing  we  are  to  consider  next  year.  There  is  where 
the  need  of  committees  comes  in.  What  we  are  dealing  with 
today  is  only  a  question  of  organization.  We  must  have  some 
kind  of  an  organization  and  we  want  the  most  efficient.  As 
one  of  my  friends  said  to  me  this  morning,  “There  is  this  ob¬ 
jection  to  this  scheme,  tfiat  it  really  is  better,  and  therefore  if 
you  do  not  like  the  direction  in  which  the  whole  thing  is  going 
you  would  better  have  a  poorer  scheme  because  it  will  not  go 
along  so  fast.”  But  I  believe  that  from  the  point  of  view  of 
the  administration,  in  view  of  things  we  want  to  have  done, 
that  they  will  be  done  better  with  this  scheme  than  the  other. 

We  are  piling  up  an  immense  problem  to  be  solved  all  at 
once  next  year.  This  does  not  deal  one  iota  with  what  sort 
of  an  organization  it  is  to  be.  That  is  all  to  be  dealt  with  by 
that  other  committee,  that  is  to  bring  its  report  next  year.  It 
seemed  to  us  that  it  was  enough  for  one  year's  work  to  deal 
with  the  efficient  machinery  of  the  committee  from  the  or¬ 
ganization  point  of  view.  Then  leave  to  another  year  the 
matter  of  finding  out  in  which  direction  the  whole  movement 
shall  go. 

Dr.  Haggard  :  Reference  was  made  yesterday  to  the  good 
old  days.  I  do  not  know  how  far  back  those  days  run.  I 
recollect  my  first  experience  in  the  Conference,  and  one  of 
the  first,  the  only  trace  of  which  now  remains  in  my  mem- 


34 


ory,  was  the  trace  of  one  bold  man.  He  thought  we  ought  to 
abandon  the  Conference  altogether.  It  did  not  pay  to  spend 
two  or  three  days  getting  together.  A  committee  was  to  be 
appointed  that  should  meet  every  three  years.  But  we  have 
come  to  feel  that  these  days  are  well  spent  and  that  we  can 
not  afford  to  waste  any  time  in  the  Conference  through  failure 
to  have  efficient  committees.  The  Conference  days  are  crowd¬ 
ed.  The  Committee  of  Reference  and  Counsel  has  been  given 
powers  which  it  has  exercised,  but  the  Committee  of  Refer¬ 
ence  and  Counsel  and  the  Conference  both  feel  that  there 
ought  to  be  distribution  of  committees.  So  the  Home  Base 
Committee  and  the  Finance  Committee  and  other  committees 
could  be  linked  together  and  those  various  functions  auto¬ 
matically  performed  by  such  bodies  could  be  put  into  the  hands 
of  the  Executive  Committee.  That  is,  we  could  have  one 
committee  with  the  same  executive  functions.  There  were 
those  who  felt  from  the  first  after  the  creating  of  these  com¬ 
mittees  that  there  should  be  an  executive  committee  binding 
them  together.  The  lack  of  co-ordination  became  more  and 
more  apparent  until  last  year  this  Conference,  feeling  the  need 
for  better  coordination,  appointed  this  committee  to  coordinate 
its  own  work  and  make  it  impossible  for  committees  to  over¬ 
lap  one  another  by  bringing  in  a  simple  scheme  which  would 
make  it  impossible  to  do,  for  example,  what  has  been  done 
here  this  year.  For  the  Home  Base  Committee  and  the  Com¬ 
mittee  of  Reference  and  Counsel  duplicate  four  items.  If  we 
had  been  satisfied  to  get  on  with  one  committee  we  would 
have  found  that  out,  and  would  have  avoided  it. 

Those  who  were  on  the  Home  Base  Committee  and  the 
Committee  of  Reference  and  Counsel  could  not  alwavs  sit 

j 

together  and  could  not  always  go  over  the  reports.  The  effort 
of  the  Committee  in  this  printed  report  was  to  do  what  you 
asked  to  be  done.  I  fail  to  discover  anything  new.  The  plan 
is  to  save  this  Conference’s  time  and  make  it  more  efficient. 
Instead  of  several  committees  creating  the  Executive  Com¬ 
mittee.  the  plan  now  presented  makes  one  large  committee  and 
sub-divides  it,  a  process  which  is  the  reverse  of  the  old  way. 
But  you  get  the  same  results.  Will  you  have  four  separate 
committees  unrelated  or  will  you  relate  them  through  the  Ex¬ 
ecutive  Committee  created  out  of  that  or  will  you  create  one 
big  committee  sub-divided?  It  seems  to  me  a  simple  propo¬ 
sition.  It  is  not  the  same  matter  that  we  have  in  mind  in 
appointing  the  new  committee  to  revise  the  constitution.  Any¬ 
thing  that  we  put  into  the  constitution  today  is  subject  to  re¬ 
vision  as  much  as  anything  else. 

35 


Mr.  George  Innis:  If  I  had  not  been  in  this  Conference 
before  and  did  not  know  what  kind  of  a  convention  it  was, 
and  I  supposed  it  was  a  lumberman’s  convention,  I  would  think 
that  there  was  a  group  of  men  here  who  had  confiscated  about 
$100,000.  We  were  looking  at  that  map,  this  morning.  We 
followed  every  statement  made.  Again  and  again  we  realized 
that  Christ’s  desire  for  the  world  is  that  we  shall  see  alike. 
We  never  shall  see  alike  until  we  trust  one  another.  I  have 
been  here  six  years,  and  I  have  never  had  reason  to  doubt 
any  man  to  whom  we  have  entrusted  any  act  in  this  Confer¬ 
ence.  Every  committee  report  has  been  a  report  that  revealed 
faithfulness  and  helpfulness.  They  have  always  been  accept¬ 
able  to  us.  If  we  are  going  to  make  progress  in  the  future 
that  will  unite  us,  we  must  trust  those  to  whom  we  assign 
these  duties.  I  trust  the  men  who  are  doing  this  work.  I 
am  not  a  member  of  the  Committee  of  Reference  and  Counsel. 
I  admire  every  man  on  that  committee,  I  admire  their  un¬ 
selfish  principles,  as  I  know  of  no  other  parliamentary  body 
to  which  I  could  give  my  trust. 

Mr.  John  W.  Wood:  Is  there  a  motion  before  the  house 
in  regard  to  referring  this  matter  before  us  to  the  Committee 
of  Seven,  which  was  appointed  yesterday? 

The  Chairman:  There  is. 

Mr.  John  W.  Wood:  It  seems  to  me  the  last  speakers  have 
carefully  refrained  from  discussing  the  motion  before  us. 
They  have  been  discussing  the  matter  on  its  merits.  I  think 
the  matter  should  be  referred,  not  because  I  am  suspicious  of 
my  friends,  but  it  is  a  radical  change,  so  radical  that  it  seems 
to  me  we  ought  not  as  individuals  to  make  it.  Even  if  we 
may  have  some  representative  capacity  we  ought  not  to  bind 
our  boards  by  taking  action  on  this  document  at  this  time. 

Dr.  Watson  :  Very  naturally,  we  do  not  want  to  have  too 
much  pass  before  us  at  any  one  time.  I  have  been  distressed 
to  see  how  much  time  has  been  given  to  passing  on  committee 
reports  and  my  mind,  like  a  good  old  conservative  goes  back 
to  the  days  of  the  African  palaver,  which,  we  have  often 
heard  was  good  in  its  way,  but  it  is  not  modern  and  therefore 
not  efficient. 

Mr.  John  W.  Wood:  Dr.  Watson  very  naturally  says  that 
we  do  not  want  too  much  to  do  next  year,  and  yet  after  all, 
since  a  committee  has  been  appointed  to  prepare  a  fundament¬ 
al  statement  of  the  purposes  of  this  Conference,  the  powers 
and  authority,  if  there  be  any,  is  it  desirable  to  forestall  this 
committee  organization?  In  other  words  is  it  desirable  to 
begin  the  thirteenth  story  until  you  have  known  what  the 

36 


foundations  are  going  to  be.  For  that  reason  I  strongly 
support  the  motion  that  it  be  deferred  for  one  year  and  put 
in  the  hands  of  the  Committee  of  Seven,  or  some  other  com¬ 
mittee  and  power  given  it  to  express  its  official  judgment  on 
the  motion. 

Dr.  Watson  :  I  rise  to  a  point  of  information.  As  I  wrote 
that  resolution  out,  unless  it  is  ready  to  be  read,  I  would  like 
to  have  the  privilege  of  at  least  restating  it  according  to  my 
own  recollection  of  it. 

Resolution  to  appoint  committee  to  define  the  functions 
of  the  Conference  was  read  by  Miss  N.  M.  Wood,  court  sten¬ 
ographer,  as  follows : 

Resolved ,  That  a  Special  Committee  of  seven  be  appointed  to  pre¬ 
pare  a  statement  which  shall  define  more  clearly  what  are  the  func¬ 
tions  and  authority  of  the  Conference  and  the  conditions  and  re¬ 
sponsibilities  of  membership  in  the  Conference ;  that  this  statement  be 
put  into  such  form  that  it  may  become  a  part  of  the  Constitution  of 
the  Conference;  and  that  the  Committee  submit  said  statement  to 
the  boards  as  a  proposed  amendment  so  that  it  may  be  legally  votfed 
upon  at  the  next  meeting  of  the  Conference  and  that  in  submitting 
'said  statement  to  the  boards  they  be  requested  to  take  action  upon 
the  same. 

Dr.  Watson  ;  According  to  that  statement  and  what  I  had 
in  mind,  that  committee  was  not  to  be  one  for  general  over¬ 
hauling. 

The  Chairman:  I  am  sure  it  was  not  intended  to  recon¬ 
struct  the  old  constitution.  It  was  to  suggest  and  bring  such 
amendments  as  seem  good  to  the  judgment  of  the  committee. 
I  understand  Mr.  Wood  intended  by  his  motion  to  defer  the 
whole  matter  by  referring  the  original  report  to  the  Com¬ 
mittee  of  Seven  for  its  consideration  and  report  next  year. 
Are  we  ready  for  the  question? 

Dr.  S.  Earl  Taylor  :  I  would  like  to  move  that  the  plan 
before  us  now  be  the  working  program  for  the  Conference  for 
the  coming  year,  and  that  the  plan  before  us  be  referred  to  a 
committee  which  shall  be  appointed  with  instructions  to  in¬ 
quire  of  the  boards  represented  here  as  to  whether  or  not 
this  is  a  workable  plan. 

Mr.  Hicks  :  I  second  it. 

Dr.  Wolf  :  Is  that  a  competent  resolution  ?  We  have  a  con¬ 
stitution.  We  can  not  set  aside  that  constitution  by  resolu¬ 
tion.  We  would  better  go  on  as  we  are  until  we  get  these 
cobwebs  out  of  our  eyes,  and  see  face  to  face. 

The  Chairman:  That  proposal,  Dr.  Wolf  thinks,  would 
be  an  amendment  of  the  constitution  without  the  constitutional 
processes.  The  substitute  would  not  be  in  order  in  this  form. 


37 


Mr.  Hicks  :  Then  I  make  a  motion  that  that  be  the  con¬ 
stitution  for  the  coming  year. 

Dr.  Wolf:  That  ought  at  least  to  be  referred  to  the  boards. 

Dr.  Endicott  :  The  question  is.  Is  it  not  possible  when  a 
question  is  before  the  body  like  this  body  to  offer  an  amend¬ 
ment?  Is  it  not  possible  to. do  that  in  order  without  waiting 
for  a  year  to  get  permission  to  do  it? 

The  Chairman:  You  have  before  you  alternative  plans. 
One  is  the  report  of  the  Committee  on  the  Constitution  with 
the  power  to  modify  it,  and  the  substitute  for  that  report. 
You  can  act  upon  either  one  of  these.  If  you  act  on  Dr. 
Taylor’s  suggestion  you  would  practically  be  adopting  this 
substitute  for  a  year.  Now,  whether  it  is  competent  for  this 
body  to  amend  its  constitution  for  one  year  I  leave  to  you. 
I  do  not  think  it  would  be  possible  or  proper  to  do  that. 

Dr.  Jones:  I  would  like  to  call  the  attention  of  the  Confer¬ 
ence  to  the  fact  that  this  Alternative  Plan  is  not  proposed  as  a 
substitute  for  the  present  constitution,  for  the  constitution 
contains  a  very  large  amount  of  matter  that  is  not  covered  by 
this  at  all,  and  which  would  continue  in  force.  There  is  no 
setting  aside  of  the  present  constitution  as  a  whole. 

The  Chairman  :  I  am  sure  that  is  the  mind  of  the  Con¬ 
ference.  It  is  simply  an  amendment  covering  the  Committee 
on  Organization. 

Dr.  Haggard:  Would  not  this  be  the  purport  of  Dr.  Tay¬ 
lor’s  motion  that  we  adopt  this  Alternattive  Plan,  and  with 
that  another  motion  that  the  whole  matter  be  referred  to  this 
Committee?  That  would  give  us  the  opportunity  to  work 
with  the  understanding  that  the  whole  matter  of  the  consti¬ 
tution  is  coming  up  next  year. 

The  Chairman  :  If  you  will  modify  your  motion  and  have 
it  apply  to  the  Substitute  and  then  refer  the.  whole  matter  to 
the  committee  you  will  have  the  matter  in  hand,  but  under 
the  present  form  you  can  not  do  that. 

Dr.  E.  L.  Smith  :  Can  we  not  arrive  at  that  by  putting  the 
motion  ? 

The  Chairman  :  That  is  entirely  within  the  privilege  of 
the  Conference.  I  will  put  the  motion  of  Mr.  Wood  that  re¬ 
fers  the  whole  matter  to  the  Committee  of  Seven  that  is  to  be 
appointed.  (The  motion  was  put  and  lost.) 

The  Chairman  :  Now,  is  there  a  motion  on  the  adoption 
of  the  substitute  ? 

Dr.  Mott:  Yesterday  in  considering  this  amendment  we 
increased  the  number  on  the  Committee  of  Reference  and 
Counsel  from  twenty-one  to  twenty-four.  I  said  I  was  in¬ 
clined  to  think  it  should  have  been  made  twenty-seven.  The 

38 


more  I  have  reflected  upon  it,  and  the  more  I  have  heard  today 
the  more  I  believe  that  our  first  thought  was  better,  and  I 
would  wish  to  move  the  amendment  that  we  change  the  num¬ 
ber  twenty-four  to  twenty-seven.  I  wish  to  speak  to  that  if 
it  is  seconded. 

Dr.  Haggard  :  I  second. 

Dr.  Mott  :  I  do  not  know  how  it  has  impressed  others,  but 
I  have  been  decidedly  impressed  by  this  discussion.  Mr.  Innis 
referred  to  the  way  in  which  our  attention  was  forced  upon 
the  map  this  morning  and  upon  the  Face  that  stood  out  in 
the  midst  of  the  map,  and  our  Chairman  in  calling  us  together 
this  afternoon  in  a  most  appropriate  loving  way  likewise  re¬ 
minded  us  of  the  possibility  of  carrying  the  same  spirit  and 
the  same  attitude  into  our  routine  work,  and  I  think  that  has 
been  what  has  characterized  this  discussion.  It  was  not  easy 
for  Mr.  Drach  to  do  what  he  had  to  do.  I  fancy  we  have  had 
no  better  illustration  of  the  spirit  of  Christ  in  the  speeches 
and  activities  of  this  Conference  than  what  he  had  to  say.  It 
must  have  been  exceedingly  difficult  for  him  to  remind  us  of 
the  existence  of  this  feeling  and  frank  conviction  shared  in 
not  by  himself  alone,  but  by  others.  Only  in  this  way  could 
the  rest  of  us  know  about  it.  It  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful 
illustrations  of  the  spirit  permeating  this  Conference.  And 
it  is  because  of  the  revelation  of  that  sincere  feeling  and  con¬ 
viction  that  I  believe  we  need  to  increase  the  number  on  this 
committee,  in  order  that  it  may  carry  forward  the  work.  I 
believe,  by  having  twenty-seven  we  can  insure  having  on  this 
committee  with  which  we  divide  the  executive  committee 
powers  now  held  by  sixteen  men — I  believe  we  can  make  the 
possibility  that  virtually  every  Canadian  and  Southern  and  the 
smaller  boards  and  larger  boards  and  women’s  boards  repre¬ 
sented  on  this  committee  which  are  not  now  represented.  That 
would  distribute  more  widely  the  Executive  Committee  pow¬ 
ers.  That  makes  for  democracy.  Mr.  Drach  made  other  points 
that  are  well  taken.  I  think  in  the  pathway  of  the  committee 
appointed  to  define  the  functions  and  authority  of  this  Con¬ 
ference  we  can  get  those  points.  In  the  meantime  we  will  be 
getting  the  executive  functions  of  the  Conference  more  widely 
distributed. 

The  Chairman  :  The  motion  is  a  proposal  that  there  be  an 
amendment  substituting  the  number  twenty-seven  for  twenty- 
four.  (Motion  carried.) 

The  Chairman:  Are  you  ready  for  the  motion  on  the 
Substitute  Plan?  Are  you  in  favor  of  the  adoption  of  the 
Substitute  ? 

Mr.  John  W.  Wood:  I  am  sorry  that  I  must  say  on  behalf 

39 


of  the  officers  of  the  board,  although  they  have  not  considered 
that  document  before  us,  that  the  adoption  of  this  document 
will  place  my  own  board  in  a  very  embarrassing  position.  I 
know  I  am  a  hopeless  conservative.  But  there  are  some  mat¬ 
ters  concerning  which  I  am  considered  a  dangerous  radical. 
And  I  think  as  I  look  over  this  proposition  and  consider  the 
various  proposals  which  have  preceded  it,  I  find  it  quite  im¬ 
possible  for  me,  and  I  think  for  my  board,  to  vote  in  favor 
of  it.  I  am  perfectly  willing  to  grant  that  the  Alternative 
Plan  and  the  original  plan  have  about  them  a  great  deal  that 
is  reasonable  and  proper.  You  can  not  pick  out  any  one  par¬ 
ticular  thing  in  this  Alternative  Plan  that  seems  to  be  a  bit 
dangerous  or  undesirable  unless  it  be  the  way  in  which  nom¬ 
inations  seem  to  be  handled  back  and  forth  between  the  Com¬ 
mittee  of  Reference  and  Counsel  and  the  Committee  of  Nom¬ 
inations.  That  may  be  an  undesirable  feature.  It  is  not  any 
one  particular  thing  that  I  can  put  my  fingers  on  at  the  present 
time.  But  it  is  the  whole  tendency  of  the  Conference.  You 
are  creating  a  Committee  of  Reference  and  Counsel.  There 
is  a  proposition  to  incorporate  that  committee.  We  have  been 
told  that  it  is  desirable  that  that  committee  should  be  incor¬ 
porated  because  possibly  it  may  have  to  hold  property  and 
administer  missionary  enterprises  in  other  lands.  In  other 
words,  there  is  a  possibility  of  creating  a  super-body  of  mis¬ 
sions  which  to  my  mind  and  in  the  mind  of  Bishop  Lloyd 
and  others  is  wholly  undesirable.  Therefore,  not  that  I  can 
point  to  any  one  clause  or  particular  passage  in  the  Alterna¬ 
tive  Plan  or  in  the  original  plan  which  seems  particularly  vic¬ 
ious,  but  because  the  whole  tendency  is  toward  the  tightening 
of  the  executive  and  to  a  certain  extent  embarrassing  boards 
in  independent  action  or  relieving  them  of  the  responsibility 
of  action  which  they  would  prefer  not  to  take,  I  feel  that  I 
shall  vote  against  this  proposition. 

Dr.  S.  Earl  Taylor:  I  have  something  in  my  system  to, 
get  out.  I  do  not  know  how  to  do  it.  I  would  like  to  know 
if  it  is  possible  to  amend  the  present  motion  by  words  to  this 
effect,  namely,  that  the  constitution  be  operative  for  one  year ; 
that  in  the  meantime  it  be  referred  to  the  boards.  Is  that  in 
order,  sir? 

The  Chairman:  I  do  not  think  that  is  in  order.  What 
you  are  really  doing  is  amending  the  constitution.  You  may 
have  in  your  subconsciousness  some  thought  of  the  change  at 
the  end  of  the  year,  but  that  does  not  matter.  We  must  stand 
by  the  law  of  our  constitution. 

Dr.  Taylor:  I  am  in  favor  of  the  plan  as  proposed  as  a 
working  program  for  a  short  period  of  time.  I  think  it  is  in 


40 


advance  of  the  present  plan.  I  speak  as  one  who  has  served 
on  the  committee  on  the  Home  Base  for  two  years,  and  I 
know  something  of  the  difficulties.  I  have  had  nothing  to  do 
with  the  construction  of  this  plan.  I  knew  nothing  about  it 
until  a  few  moments  ago,  but  I  can  see  at  a  glance  that  it  is 
a  better  working  plan  than  we  had  last  year,  in  the  direction 
of  better  coordination  and  higher  efficiency,  but  it  does  not 
seem  to  me  that  it  ought  to  be  imposed  upon  those  who  feel 
otherwise  without  some  chance  of  revision  better  than  we  can 
see  now  upon  the  surface  of  it.  A  good  many  men  will  go 
out  from  this  room  feeling  dissatisfied,  and  there  should  be 
some  constitutional  means  whereby  we  could  understand  that 
in  adopting  this  we  adopt  it  now  as  a  working  plan,  with  the 
understanding  that  it  be  referred  to  a  committee  and  given 
a  chance  at  consideration  so  that  in  the  end  we  might  know 
whether  it  really  represents  the  majority  opinion  of  the  bodies 
and  of  this  Conference.  Mr.  Chairman,  I  am  entirely  in 
favor  of  taking  a  step  in  this  direction,  but  I  do  not  think  we 
want  to  take  it  at  the  expense  of  the  good  will  and  full  co¬ 
operation  that  has  been  growing  upon  both  the  Foreign  field 
and  in  the  home  land. 

Dr.  Endicott  :  I  have  something  in  my  system  and  I  think 
I  know  how  to  get  it  out.  It  seems  to  me  the  objections  we 
hear  about  the  dangers  of  a  certain  tendency  are  belated.  It 
is  like  advising  a  man  happily  married  about  the  advantages 
of  the  single  life.  You  see  we  have  already  done  all  the  things 
which  are  really  dangerous,  and  they  have  proven  not  to  be 
dangerous.  We  have  got  the  Committee  of  Reference  and 
Counsel.  It  it  a  prodigous  institution.  It  is  doing  its  work 
and  it  has  been  doing  it  for  a  long  time.  What  is  the  use 
to  say  we  have  a  dangerous  tendency  when  it  is  not  a  danger¬ 
ous  tendency?  Up  in  Canada  they  have  this  question,  “Is 
Chicago  a  city  or  is  it  only  a  disease  ?”  There  is  an  important 
difference  between  opportunity  and  privilege.  I  appreciate 
very  much  the  privilege  of  being  on  some  of  these  commit¬ 
tees.  Some  people  here  seem  to  feel  that  we  are  putting  a  tre¬ 
mendous  amount  of  power  in  the  hands  of  a  limited  number 
of  men,  but  as  a  member  of  some  of  these  committees,  while 
I  recognize  the  opportunity,  I  certainly  am  not  conscious  of 
the  privilege  of  being  on  these  committees.  I  can  not  tell 
you  how  many  meals  I  have  lost.  I  can  not  tell  you  the 
difference  between  sitting  up  at  night  spending  the  time  be¬ 
tween  meetings  preparing  plans. and  all  that  sort  of  thing  and 
coming  in  here  to  a  meeting  like  ours,  where  we  enjoy  the 
programs  presented.  Now  I  heard  of  a  man  a  while  ago 
whose  wife  was  very  ill  and  she  asked  him  what  he  would  do 


4i 


when  she  was  gone.  He  said  he  would  go  mad,  and  that  was 
satisfactory.  But  she  said,  “Would  you  get  married  again,” 
but  he  said,  “Oh,  no,  I  would  not  go  as  mad  as  that.”  Mr. 
Chairman,  I  think  we  ought  to  be  perfectly  happy  if  we  are 
not  on  committees.  And  if  we  are  asked  to  serve  on  these 
committees  let  us  do  our  work  as  well  as  we  can.  But  do 
not  confound  opportunity  with  privilege.  That  man  did  not, 
and  he  was  a  wise  man. 

Dr.  Patton  :  One  point  made  against  that  Alternative  Plan 
has  impressed  me  as  being  worthy  of  our  consideration.  It 
is  this  endless  chain  of  committees  passing  through  the  Com¬ 
mittee  of  Reference  and  Counsel.  Reference  and  Counsel 
appoints  the  Business  Committee,  they  nominate  the  Nominat¬ 
ing  Committee  and  they  nominate  all  the  others.  They  them¬ 
selves  are  nominated  by  the  Business  Committee.  Now,  would 
it  relieve  that  if  instead  of  having  the  Business  Committee 
nominated  by  Reference  and  Counsel,  if  we  had  it  nominated 
in  some  other  way — from  the  floor?  I  think  the  present  plan 
is  a  little  more  efficient,  if  we  can  trust  one  another  for  we  can, 
start  at  once  when  we  are  assembled.  But  if  it  would  be  more 
democratic  to  nominate'  the  Business  Committee  from  the 
floor  it  would  relieve  the  criticism  to  which  it  may  be  open. 
Of  course  the  fellowship  of  this  Conference  is  its  beautiful 
feature.  But  let  us  not  forget  that  to  which  Dr.  Watson  made 
reference,  that  this  fellowship  has  to  administer  $70,000  a 
year.  That  was  not  the  case  in  the  good  old  days.  We  not 
only  have  to  administer  but  we  have  to  give  account  to  very 
important  donors  without  whose  help  we  could  not  do  these 
great  things.  That  is  a  plain  fact.  We  are  simply  trying  to 
get  a  system  of  efficiency  and  coordination  so  that  we  can  do 
our  work  as  well  as  possible.  All  of  the  considerations  which 
are  in  the  minds  of  those  who  speak  to  the  plan  were  the 
dominating  ones  in  the  minds  of  the  others  on  the  committee. 

Dr.  Good:  That  meets  my  objection.  I  was  on  the  point 
of  offering  an  amendment  to  the  effect  that  we  strike  out  the 
clause  that  the  Business  Committee  of  each  Annual  Confer¬ 
ence  consisting  of  five  persons  shall  be  appointed  at  the  open¬ 
ing  session  on  the  nomination  of  the  Committee  of  Reference 
and  Counsel.  That  would  relieve  a  great  objection.  I  move 
that  the  report  be  amended  by  striking  out  in  the  clause  the 
words,  “On  the  nomination  of  the  Committee  of  Reference 
and  Counsel.” 

I  object  to  having  no  chance  for  this  Conference  as  a  Con¬ 
ference  to  say  something.  This  gives  opportunity  for,  if  for  in¬ 
stance  the  Business  Committee  was  always  to  be  nominated 
by  the  Committee  of  Reference  and  Counsel  and  we  wish  to 


42 


nominate  someone  else,  we  could  not  do  it.  We  are  repressed. 
Therefore  I  am  glad  for  this  change. 

Dr.  Goucher  :  I  am  not  too  keen  about  the  adoption  of  this, 
or  about  its  going  into  operation  at  once.  I  favor  its  being 
put  over  for  a  year.  Then  we  might  move  with  unity.  I 
must  confess,  Mr.  Chairman,  my  judgment  opposes  the  amend¬ 
ment  which  has  just  been  made.  There  is  nothing  more  deli¬ 
cate,  nothing  more  vital  to  the  efficiency  of  this  organization 
than  this  Business  Committee.  Canada  and  the  United  States, 
combine  in  this  movement.  If  this  Business  Committee  is  to 
be  nominated  from  the  floor,  then  it  will  amount  to  just  this, 
that  the  person  of  most  nimble  knee  and  nimble  tongue  will 
do  the  naming  of  this  committee  because  no  one  will  want  fb 
vote  against  anybody  who  has  been  nominated.  A  person  will 
get  in  without  any  regard  to  the  distribution  of  representation 
between  the  United  States  and  Canada,  or  of  denominational 
affiliations,  not  to  mention  the  recognition  of  particular  quali¬ 
fications  of  certain  persons  because  of  their  experience  to  give 
counsel  and  direction.  I  think  it  wiser  that  this  committee 
should  be  chosen  with  deliberation  and  under  the  most  care¬ 
ful  conditions,  and  I  hope  we  do  not  make  the  change  sug¬ 
gested  at  this  vital  point. 

Dr.  Haggard:  If  the  Business  Committee  could  be  nominat¬ 
ed  by  this  standing  committee  they  could  bring  in  the  nomina¬ 
tions.  The  nominating  committee  is  nominated  by  the  busi¬ 
ness  committee. 

Dr.  E.  L.  Smith  :  My  impression  is-  that  Dr.  Goucher  is 
exactly  right  and  that  we  would  get  a  better  committee  by 
the  canvass  of  a  preliminary  committee.  I  think  it  would  be 
better  if  the  provision  recommended  by  Dr.  Patton  is  kept 
in  here.  I  think  it  would  also  be  wise  and  meet  the  objection 
that  has  been  raised  if  you  would  make  this  change  and  say 
certain  committees  shall  be  chosen  by  the  Committee  on  Nom¬ 
inations,  except  the  Committee  on  Nominations  itself  which 
shall  be  nominated  by  the  presiding  officer.  In  that  case  I 
think  you  would  meet  the  objections  raised.  Instead  of  hav¬ 
ing  the  Committee  on  Nominations  nominate  the  Business 
Committee,  which  is  a  part  of  Reference  and  Counsel,  you  will 
have  a  Business  Committee  nominated  by  Reference  and  Coun¬ 
sel,  which  is  wise,  and  you  have  a  Nominating  Committee  ap-* 
pointed  by  the  presiding  officer  who  has  been  elected  by  the 
whole  body. 

The  Chairman:  Would  that  satisfy  your  thought? 

Dr.  Good:  The  suggestion  made  by  Dr.  Goucher  is  only 
one  plan.  Nominations  are  not  always  made  from  the  floor 
as  you  suggest.  This  matter  is  only  one  plan.  There  are 

43 


other  methods.  As  to  the  suggestion  by  Dr.  Smith  I  did  not 
catch  the  whole  of  it. 

Dr.  E.  L.  Smith  :  I  have  in  mind  the  experience  of  this 
year.  We  have  an  admirable  Business  Committee.  We  went 
over  the  matter  carefully.  I  am  chairman  of  that  committee. 
We  went  over  the  boards  with  the  territory  in  mind  and  all 
that.  We  appointed  a  committee  of  twelve.  That  left  eight 
to  be  appointed.  I  submit  we  did  a  better  job  in  that  way. 

The  Chairman:  What  would  you  have  done  if  it  had  been 
a  committee  of  five? 

Mr.  E.  L.  Smith  :  We  would  have  made  it  as  representa¬ 
tive  as  possible.  A  body  so  constituted  can  do  it  better  than  a 
large  body  can  do  it.  There  will  be  greater  care  exercised  by 
the  Committee  of  Reference  and  Counsel.  « 

The  Chairman:  I  ask  that  question  so  as  to  call  your  at¬ 
tention  to  the  fact  that  you  are  introducing  a  fixed  number, 
five,  into  the  constitution.  You  have  had  larger  committees. 

Dr.  E.  L.  Smith  :  My  motion  was  to  substitute  one  pro¬ 
vision,  the  original  of  the  nominating  committee.  I  was  pro¬ 
posing  that  the  Nominating  Committee  should  be  nominated 
not  by  the  Business  Committee,  but  by  the  presiding  officer, 
if  he  is  elected  by  this  Conference.  In  that  way  we  could 
avoid  the  objection  that  has  been  raised. 

Dr.  Good:  Might  I  ask  who  nominates  the  presiding  officer? 

Dr.  Jones  :  The  nominating  committee. 

Dr.  Good:  I  want  some  spontaneity  in  this.  You  have  the 
same  difficulty  in  that  as  in  the  other.  It  is  from  one  com¬ 
mittee  to  the  other. 

The  Chairman  :  We  have  a  motion  to  amend  by  striking 
out  a  given  clause.  Dr.  Smith’s  proposed  amendment  is 
the  proposed  substitute  for  that  but  it  does  not  exactly  sub¬ 
stitute  for  that,  and  therefore  you  must  get  your  minds  clear 
of  it,  so  as  to  know  whether  you  wish  to  accept  Dr.  Smith’s 
amendment  which  would  be  put  if  the  other  were  lost.  But 
the  motion  is  to  strike  out.  That  is  the  motion  that  has  been 
proposed  by  Dr.  Good. 

Dr.  Jones:  I  would  like  to  inquire  whether  Dr.  Smith’s 
amendment  has  been  seconded  from  the  floor. 

The  Chairman:  I  heard  no  second. 

Dr.  Bartholomew  :  This  provision  that  five  persons  ap¬ 
pointed  by  the  president  at  the  opening  session  be  a  Nominat¬ 
ing  Committee  would  relieve  all  the  objection. 

The  Chairman  :  It  is  another  proposition.  It  is  not  a 
substitute  for  the  amendment  proposition. 

Col.  Halford:  We  have  put  in  an  hour  and  a  half  on  this 
and  like  Tennyson’s  brook  there  is  indication  that  we  are  go- 

44 


in g  on  forever.  Can  we  not  refer  this  whole  matter  and  get 
away  from  the  proposed  interlocking  directorate.  There  is  a 
prejudice  in  the  democratic  minds  to  interlocking  directorates. 
Now  I  would  make  this  motion. 

The  Chairman:  We  have  a  motion  to  amend. 

Dr.  Jones  :  I  am  perfectly  willing  that  it  be  recommitted. 
But  I  call  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  proposed  amendment 
will  necessarily  come  up  all  over  again. 

Dr.  Watson  :  I  withdraw  my  second. 

Dr.  A.  J.  Brown  :  My  name  is  on  this  report  but  I  had  no 
part  in  drawing  it  up.  It  is  not  the  report  of  the  committee, 
but  a  part  of  the  committee.  The  Conference  understands 
that  this  is  not  the  proposal  of  the  present  Committee  of  Ref¬ 
erence  and  Counsel.  I  rise  to  take  part  in  the  discussion,  not 
to  discuss  the  merits  of  the  case,  but  to  express  profound 
anxiety  and  misgiving  about  spending  so  much  time  in  this 
kind  of  discussion.  It  seems  to  me  quite  inconsistent  with 
the  state  of  mind  in  which  the  morning  left  us.  I  should  have 
profound  misgivings  about  having  any  constitutional  change 
put  through  against  protest  made  here  thus  far.  It  seems  to 
me  in  a  Conference  of  this  sort  we  ought  not  to  do  things 
that  we  cannot  do  without  reasonable  unanimity. 

The  Chairman:  The  motion  is  to  refer  the  whole  report 
to  the  committee  of  which  Doctor  Barton  is  chairman,  both 
original  and  substitute,  with  instructions  to  provide  adjust¬ 
ment  of  this  matter  that  is  now  being  discussed. 

Dr.  E.  L.  Smith  :  I  would  like  to  move  that  this  clause  be 
added,  “and  report  next  year.”  There  -is  no  time  at  this 
session. 

The  Chairman  :  Col.  Halford  made  the  motion  to  recom¬ 
mit.  I  am  perfectly  willing  to  refer  it,  but  I  would  be  oblig¬ 
ed  to  rule  that  this  is  not  entirely  germane  to  the  motion  to 
refer,  for  that  was  to  bring  it  back  now.  If  you  wish  to  move 
that  afterwards-  you  can. 

Col.  Halford  :  I  should  be  willing  that  the  matter  be  re¬ 
ferred  and  I  would  not  care  if  it  were  brought  up  next  year. 

(Voted  to  recommit.) 

The  Chairman:  We  are  far  behind  the  time  assigned  for 
the  taking  up  of  the  report  of  the  Finance  Committee,  which 
is  now  in  order. 

Dr.  A.  J.  Brown  :  Will  you  kindly  excuse  me  from  that 
committee ;  as  I  could  not  take  part  in  the  work,  I  would  like 
to  be  excused. 

Mr.  James  Wood:  (Read  the  report  of  the  Finance  Com¬ 
mittee.) 

(Voted  that  the  report  be  received  and  referred  back  to  the 

45 


Finance  Committee.  If  found  to  be  correct,  to  be  edited  and 
published  in  the  report  of  the  Conference.) 

Dr.  Pinson  :  I  would  like  to  ask  on  behalf  of  the  Nominat¬ 
ing  Committee  when  we  are  going  to  have  the  list  of  the  com¬ 
mittees  that  are  to  be  nominated.  The  end  of  the  session  is 
coming  and  this  committee  will  want  to  make  nominations ; 
the  action  taken  this  afternoon  leaves  us  up  in  the  air  as  to 
what  we  are  to  do. 

Mr.  Mott  :  Can  we  not  ask  the  committee  to  which  this 
last  matter  was  referred  to  withdraw?  It  is  clearly  the  case 
that  the  Nominating  Committee  is  tied  up  until  the  first  com¬ 
mittee  does  its  work.  Their  fear  is  that  some  of  these  dele¬ 
gates  who  ought  to  be  here  will  be  going  away  from  the  Con¬ 
ference.  I  move  you  that  the  committee  to  which  this  refer¬ 
ence  was  made  be  permitted  to  withdraw  and,  if  possible" 
bring  back  their  report  this  afternoon. 

(Voted.) 

Dr.  A.  J.  Brown  :  May  I  renew  my  request  to  be  excused 
from  that  committee  on  the  change  in  the  constitution,  and 
put  Dr.  Good  in  my  place? 

(Voted.) 

The  Chairman:  (Later  in  the  afternoon)  Will  Dr.  Barton 
kindly  report? 

Dr.  Barton  :  We  had  no  difficulty  whatever  in  agreeing 
upon  some  changes  in  the  plan  to  meet  the  wishes  suggested 
on  the  floor.  We  suggest  four  changes  in  this  Alternative 
Report.  We  think  it  very  greatly  improves  the  report.  I 
will  read  them  slowly.  Under  the  section  entitled  “Commit¬ 
tees,”  at  the  middle  of  the  paragraph  beginning  with  “Stand¬ 
ing  Committees,”  the  last  sentence  of  that  paragraph,  we  re¬ 
commend  that  you  strike  out  the  words,  “nominated  by  Busi¬ 
ness  Committee,”  and  substitute  these :  “be  appointed  by  the 
Chairman  of  the  Conference  from  members  of  the  Conference' 
in  actual  attendance,  provided  however  that  two-thirds  of  the 
persons  shall  consist  of  persons  not  members  of  the  Com¬ 
mittee  for  the  preceding  year.”  Now,  let  me  read  the  com¬ 
plete  resolution.  (Resolution  read.)  Now,  in  order  to  make 
this  article  conform  in  every  part  we  would  make  this  change 
in  the  first  sentence  of  the  same  paragraph  beginning  “Stand¬ 
ing  Committees.”  After  that,  we  would  insert  the  reference 
to  the  Committee  on  Nominations  and  Credentials  as  a  matter 
of  conformity. 

In  the  same  section  entitled  “Committees,”  the  last  para¬ 
graph  beginning  “A  Business  Committee  of  each  annual  Con¬ 
ference,  consisting  of  five  persons,”  we  would  change  from 
“five”  to  seven.  The  present  Constitution  does  not  define  the 

46 


number  of  persons,  on  the  Business  Committee  and  we  think 
seven  would  be  better  than  five.  Then,  down  at  the  bottom  of 
the  page  in  the  section  entitled  “Duties  of  Committees,”  the 
last  paragraph,  entitled  “The  Committee  on  Nominations  and 
Credentials,”  we  would  make  another  verbal  change  by  way  of 
making  it  all  conform  with  the  first  change  suggested.  We 
would  omit  the  word  “annually.” 

A  Member :  I  move  the  adoption  of  these  changes. 

Mr.  E.  W.  Miller:  I  second  the  motion. 

The  Chairman:  You  have  heard  these  changes;  are  you 
ready  for  the  question? 

(Voted.) 

It  is  carried  unanimously  and  the  statement  of  the  Alter¬ 
native  Plan  is  so  amended. 

Before  you  now  is  the  question,  or  motion,  for  the  adoption 
of  the  Substitute  Plan,  or  this  plan  in  place  of  the  original 
report  of  the  Committee.  Are  you  ready  for  action  upon 
that  motion?  As  many  as  will  accept  the  substitute  in  place 
of  the  original  will  say  “Aye.”  Contrary  “No.”  The  “Ayes” 
have  it. 

It  becomes  now  your  original  report  and  the  motion  will  be 
upon  the  adoption  of  that  as  amended.  As  many  as  favor 
it  will  please  so  signify. 

(The  report  was  adopted.) 


47 


THE  INCORPORATION  OF  THE  COMMITTEE  OF 
REFERENCE  AND  COUNSEL 


Dr.  Brown  :  It  has  been  thought  advisable  that  some  body 
in  connection  with  this  Conference  should  be  incorporated. 
The  Conference  itself  could  not  wisely  be  incorporated,  be¬ 
cause  it  is  not  a  continuing  body.  It  is  created  each  year  by 
the  boards  which  are  represented  by  its  constituency.  It  meets 
for  three  days  and  then  dissolves  and  goes  out  of  existence,  and 
an  entirely  new  conference  is  created  the  next  year.  A  com¬ 
mittee  of  the  Conference,  however,  can  be  constituted  and  in¬ 
corporated,  just  as  a  general  convention,  for  example,  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  would  not  be  incorporated,  but 
doubtless  would  constitute  a  Board  of  Trustees  or  some  body 
that  would  be  incorporated.  And  inasmuch  as  the  Committee 
of  Reference  and  Counsel  has  been  a  kind  of  general  com¬ 
mittee,  as  it  is  handling  a  budget  of  over  $70,000  a  year,  as 
there  are  property  interests  that  may  be  affected,  as  it  may 
be  convenient  to  have  some  committee  of  the  Conference 
which  could  take  title  in  case  such  title  were  desired,  the 
question  has  been  raised  whether  the  Committee  should  be  in¬ 
corporated.  It  is,  of  course,  understood  that  incorporation 
would  not  add  an  iota  to  the  power  of  the  committee.  That 
question  has  been  very  carefully  guarded  by  the  statement  on 
page  18,  section  5,  the  latter  part  of  that  section,  that  the  Com¬ 
mittee  “shall  not  take  any  action  that  is  not  in  accordance  with 
the  acts  and  decisions  of  the  Foreign  Missions  Conference  of 
North  America.”  A  body  that  is  incorporated  by  this  Confer¬ 
ence  can  be  completely  changed  at  any  annual  meeting.  I 
would  like,  Mr.  Chairman,  to  call  upon  the  Chairman  of  the 
sub-committee  for  an  explanatory  statement,  but  perhaps  be¬ 
fore  doing  that,  may  read  the  recommendation  which  the  com¬ 
mittee  proposes : 

That  since  there  is  a  proposal  to  be  brought  before  the  Conference 
looking  toward  the  more  accurate  definition  of  the  Constitution  of 
the  Conference  and  of  its  functions  and  authority,  the  Committee  of 
Reference  and  Counsel  would  recommend  that  action  upon  the  Form1 
of  Incorporation  be  postponed  one  year,  but  that  its  presentation  at 
this  time  be  regarded1  as  meeting  the  requirements  for  due  notice  of 
such  constitutional  changes  as  its  adoption  next  year  might  require. 

Therefore,  it  may  be  proper,  if  the  Conference  so  please,  to 
discuss  the  possibility  of  incorporating  something  in  connection 
with  the  Conference,  whether  it  be  the  present  Committee  or 
such  new  committee  as  you  may  constitute ;  and  on  this  subject 
I  wish  the  Conference  might  hear  from  Mr.  James  Wood, 
the  Chairman  of  this  sub-committee,  who  in  conference  with 

48 


Mr.  George  Wharton  Pepper  has  given  a  good  deal  of  time  to 
this  subject  and  has  conferred  with  a  number  of  authorities. 

The  Chairman  :  If  it  will  be  your  pleasure  to  act  upon  the 
motion,  then  I  will  ask  Mr.  Wood  to  speak  about  it.  Or  will 
you  speak  first,  Mr.  Wood?  Will  you  accept  then  the  recom¬ 
mendation  of  the  committee  which  has  just  been  read  to  by 
the  Chairman  of  the  Committee  of  Reference  and  Counsel? 

(Upon  motion  duly  seconded  the  recommendation  was 
adopted.) 

Mr.  James  Wood  :  After  the  statement  made  by  the  Chair¬ 
man  of  the  Committee  of  Reference  and  Counsel,  it  seems 
hardly  necessary  for  me  to  take  your  time  in  making  any 
additional  statement  upon  this  matter.  But  I  do  desire  to  say 
that  in  the  draft  of  the  act  of  incorporation  very  careful  at¬ 
tention  has  been  given  to  all  the  objections  that  have  come  to 
our  knowledge,  to  the  proposition  for  incorporation.  Those  of 
you  who  were  here  last  year  will  remember  that  when  the 
proposition  came  up  in  the  report  of  the  Committee  of  Refer¬ 
ence  and  Counsel  the  subject  was  very  fully  discussed  pro  and 
con;  and  then  the  reference  was  made  of  the  subject,  as  the 
Chairman  of  the  Committee  has  stated.  Desiring  to  have  all 
the  objections  that  could  be  raised,  the  Committee  consulted 
a  noted  legal  authority  of  the  City  of  New  York  for  a  state¬ 
ment  upon  this  matter,  which  statement  embodied  all  the  ob¬ 
jections  that  an  extended  experience  could  raise  against  the 
proposition.  We  also  considered  the  arguments  that  were  pre¬ 
sented  and  the  debate  and  discussion  in  the  Conference  of  last 
year,  and  after  a  thorough  examination  of  all  the  points  in¬ 
volved,  the  sub-committee  recommended  to  the  Committee  of 
Reference  and  Counsel  that  we  advise  the  Conference  to  have 
it  become  incorporated,  and  we  prepared  a  draft  of  an  act  of 
incorporation  to  be  submitted  to  the  Legislature  of  the  State 
of  New  York. 

The  nature  of  the  situation  is  such  that  it  is  impossible  for 
us  to  be  incorporated  under  the  law  of  the  State  for  the  incor¬ 
poration  of  general  business  concerns,  because  that  law  has 
certain  requirements  tha,t  this  Conference  cannot  meet.  But 
it  can  be  incorporated  by  special  act  of  the  Legislature.  The 
draft  of  a  charter  has  been  carefully  considered,  so  as  to  give 
no  powers,  as  Dr.  Brown  has  stated,  to  this  Committee  except 
as  it  was  distinctly  specified. 

Now,  the  question  of  incorporation  is  a  simple,  practical 
business  question.  There  are  no  theoretical  propositions  in  ,it. 
It  isn’t  a  thing  for  academic  discussion.  It  is  purely  and  sim¬ 
ply  a  business  proposition,  which  is  this :  The  Conference  al¬ 
ready  has  the  Committee  of  Reference  and  Counsel,  already 


49 


has  funds  in  its  hands.  It  is  very  desirable  that  those  funds 
should  be  administered  according  to  the  clear  and  well  defined 
requirements  of  the  statutes  governing  such  matters.  Also,  if 
property  is  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  Committee  or  the  hands 
of  this  Conference,  there  should  be  somebody  legally  authorized 
to  receive  and  administer  such  property.  At  the  present  time 
no  one  has  such  legal  authority,  and  we  cannot  have  it  without 
incorporation.  If  no  property  for  general  missionary  purposes, 
for  education  in  mission  fields,  for  the  establishment  of  higher 
institutions  of  learning  in  the  various  mission  fields  of  the 
world,  if  no  property  for  such  purposes  may  be  given,  no  harm 
can  result  from  incorporation.  But  if,  on  the  other  hand,  prop¬ 
erty  is  given  for  any  of  those  purposes,  it  is  exceedingly  de¬ 
sirable,  indeed  it  is  absolutely  necessary  to  have  some  legally 
constituted  body  who  can  hold  and  administer  it. 

That  is  all  there  is  to  this  matter  of  incorporation.  I  can¬ 
not  quite  see  how  anybody  can  imagine  that  there  are  fears  in 
the  way.  Perhaps  there  are  a  sufficient  number  of  old  people 
who  come  under  the  rule  that  fears  shall  be  in  the  way  of  ev¬ 
erything  that  comes  along;  but  I  do  not  see  many  people  who 
look  to  have  arrived  at  that  age.  I  think  there  are  no  high¬ 
waymen  to  challenge  us  in  this  undertaking  ;  but  if  it  is  to  be 
postponed  for  a  year,  it  is  hardly  worth  while  for  me  to  take 
more  of  your  time  for  this  discussion. 

Mr.  Drach  :  Mr.  Chairman,  may  I  ask  Mr.  Wood  to  state 
to  us  the  present  imperative  need  for  incorporation.  Is  there 
such  a  need  now? 

The  Chairman  :  Mr.  Wood,  you  hear  the  question. 

Mr.  Wood  :  Well,  “imperative  need.”  We  can  probably 
wiggle  along  some  way  or  another  in  the  administration  as  we 
have  gone,  but  there  is  a  need  according  to  the  strict  opera¬ 
tions  of  business  that  we  should  be  incorporated.  The  Rocke¬ 
feller  Foundation  would  greatly  prefer  that  they  should  deal 
with  a  legally  incorporated  body.  They  come  forward  with  a 
gift  of  all  this  money  which  enables  us  to  do  such  magnificent 
work  for  the  missionary  interests,  and  they  find  they  are  deal¬ 
ing  with  a  loose  aggregation  of  people  that  they  cannot  put 
their  hands  on  in  any  legal  way.  They  would  be  very  glad 
to  have  us  represented  by  an  incorporation  that  they  could 
deal  with  in  a  straight,  strict,  business  way.  And  if  we  look 
upon  it  in  that  light,  there  is — well,  we  may  say  perhaps  with¬ 
out  undue  emphasis  on  the  word  that  has  been  used,  there  is 
an  imperative  necessity  for  incorporation. 

Are  there  any  other  questions? 

Rev.  Enoch  F.  Bell:  Mr.  Chairman,  may  I  ask  Mr.  Wood 
whether  under  this  incorporation  the  individual  members  of 


5o 


the  Committee  of  Reference  and  Counsel  would  be  held  legal¬ 
ly  responsible,  or  just  the  corporate  body  as  such,  for  any  fail¬ 
ure  on  the  part  of  the  Conference  to  meet  the  budget  with  the 
Rockefeller  Foundation?1  For  example,  supposing  we  should 
fall  down  on  the  budget,  would  this  Committee  of  Reference 
and  Counsel  be  held  responsible  individually  or  as  a  corporate 
body  ? 

Mr.  Wood:  I  am  not  a  lawyer,  but  I  am  advised  that  there 
would  be  no  individual  responsibility  on  the  part  of  the  Com¬ 
mittee  of  Reference  and  Counsel,  unless  they  can  be  shown  to 
have  been  guilty  of  malfeasance  in  office,  and  of  course  that 
applies  to  everybody ;  but  unless  they  can  be  shown  to  have 
falsely  or  dishonestly  administered  their  trust,  individual  re¬ 
sponsibility  will  not  attach  to  them. 

Dr.  Harlan  P.  Beach  :  Dr.  Brown,  I  think,  alluded  to  the 
fact  that  a  certain  board  had  gone  on  record  in  the  matter  of 
asking  for  a  closer  definition  of  the  powers  of  the  Conference 
in  relation  to  the  Boards,  and  that  in  view  of  that  fact,  it  might 
seem  wise  to  defer  the  question  of  incorporation  until  that 
same  fact  came  to  the  attention  of  the  Committee  on  the  re¬ 
vision  of  your  constitution,  and  it  was  suggested  that  that  Com¬ 
mittee  might  bring  in  as  a  part  of  its  report  a  clearer  defini¬ 
tion  of  the  powers  of  this  Conference  with  relation  to  these 
Boards.  We  do  not  consider  it  within  our  province,  but  in  view 
of  that  fact,  we  were  prepared  to  ask  the  Conference  to  ap¬ 
point  a  committee  next  year  to  bring  in  some  amendment  cov¬ 
ering  that  very  matter,  which  we  thought  was  very  important, 
and  in  view  of  that  fact,  we  were  prepared  to  make  the  very 
suggestions  which  Dr.  Brown  has  made ;  and  if  there  is  to  be 
a  discussion  of  that  matter  a  year  hence,  we  might  prefer  to 
defer  the  discussion  of  the  incorporation  that  long. 

Dr.  Brown  :  Mr.  Chairman :  This  completes  the  report  of 
the  Committee  of  Reference  and  Counsel.  If  it  shall  please  the 
Conference  to  take  this  recommendation,  which  is  to  the  effect 
that  the  question  of  incorporation  be  deferred  until  next  year, 
and  that  the  passing  of  this  motion  shall  be  equivalent  to  the 
legal  notice,  so  if  the  Conference  next  year  shall  decide  to  in¬ 
corporate,  the  way  may  be  clear  to  do  so,  although,  of  course, 
the  Conference  may  not  decide  to  incorporate,  and  then  after 
that,  Dr.  Patton  might  perhaps  bring  up  this  other  matter. 

The  Chairman  :  The  motion  that  is  before  you  is  the  mo¬ 
tion  last  made  by  Dr.  Brown  from  the  Committee — I  think  it 
is  in  your  mind — concerning  the  postponement.  Are  you  ready 
for  that  motion?  (Puts  motion.)  It  is  carried. 

Dr.  Brown  :  That  completes  our  report. 


5i 


The  Chairman  :  Is  there  any  further  business  to  come  be¬ 
fore  the  order  of  the  day? 

Dr.  Watson  :  Mr.  Chairman :  Perhaps  the  matter  will  be 
clearer  in  our  minds  if  it  is  brought  in  now.  I  would  there¬ 
fore  venture  to  present  the  following  resolution :  That  a 
special  committee  of  seven  be  appointed  to  prepare  a  state¬ 
ment  which  shall  define  more  clearly  the  constitution  of  the 
Conference,  its  functions  and  authority,  and  the  conditions 
and  responsibilities  of  membership  in  the  Conference ;  that 
this  statement  be  put  into  such  form  that  it  may  become  a  part 
of  the  constitution  of  the  Conference,  and  that  the  committee 
submit  said  statement  to  the  Boards  as  a  proposed  amend¬ 
ment,  so  that  it  may  be  legally  voted  upon  at  the  next  meeting 
of  the  Conference.  If  this  is  seconded,  I  would  like  to  make 
an  explanation. 

The  Chairman  :  You  hear  the  motion  proposed  by  Dr. 
Watson.  Is  there  a  second  to  this?  (Motion  seconded.)  It 
is  seconded  and  is  before  us,  Dr.  Watson. 

Dr.  Watson  :  There  are  three  things  which  I  think  we 
should  keep  quite  distinct  from  each  other.  One  is  incor¬ 
poration  ;  the  other  is  the  form  of  committee  organization  for 
doing  the  work  of  this  Conference,  and  the  third  is  a  state¬ 
ment  as  to  the  fundamental  platform  of  our  Conference. 

Now,  we  may  need  any  one  of  those  things  by  itself.  We 
do  not  want  the  three  things  entangled.  If  any  two  of  them 
are  more  closely  related  to  each  other  than  any  other  two,  it 
would  be  that  the  incorporation  is  vitally  related  to  the  de¬ 
finition  of  this  Conference’s  functions  and  rights  and  respon¬ 
sibilities.  We  felt  that  the  committee  organization  did  not  stand 
so  vitally  related  to  this  question  of  functions  and  responsi¬ 
bilities,  because  where  we  have  a  work  in  existence  we  must 
have  committees.  We  have  been  seeking  to  get  that  form  of 
committee  organization  that  will  best  carry  the  work  we  have ; 
and  therefore  we  felt  bold  to  bring  before  you  the  amend¬ 
ments  that  have  to  do  with  our  committee  organization.  That 
committee  organization  will  probably,  as  far  as  we  can  see,  be 
the  same  whatever  the  foundation  of  this  Conference  is ;  but 
the  implications  involved  in  incorporation  it  seemed  to  us 
would  be  greater  in  the  one  case  than  in  the  other, — that  is, 
in  case  the  definitions  of  the  Conference’s  authorities  were  one 
way  or  the  other.  So  we  propose  that  the  incorporation  be 
postponed  until  this  definition  of  the  Conference’s  rights  and 
authorities,  membership,  etc.,  be  made  clearer.  But  we  ven¬ 
ture  to  hope  that  the  proposals  brought  this  afternoon  and 
to  be  considered  later  in  this  Conference,  relating  to  commit¬ 
tee  organizations,  may  be  brought  up  and  disposed  of,  so  that 

52 


from  the  point  of  view  purely  of  efficiency  we  may  be  able 
to  handle  the  work  better  than  we  have  been  handling  it  in 
the  years  gone  by,  and  better  than  we  feel  we  can  handle  it 
by  existing  machinery. 

Now,  this  resolution  is  presented :  That  a  committee  be 
appointed  to  define  more  clearly  the  constitution  of  the  Con¬ 
ference,  its  functions  and  authority,  and  the  conditions  and 
responsibilities  'of  membership  in  the  Conference;  that  this 
statement  be  put  into  such  form  that  it  may  become  a  part 
of  the  constitution  of  the  Conference,  and  that  the  committee 
submit  said  statement  to  the  Boards  as  a  proposed  amendment, 
so  that  it  may  be  legally  voted  upon  at  the  next  meeting  of  the 
Conference. 

Dr.  Brown  :  I  venture  to  suggest  that  the  word  “constitu¬ 
tion”  there  is  used  in  rather  an  ambiguous  sense.  I  do  not 
understand  that  it  is  the  intent  of  Dr.  Watson — at  least,  I  so 
infer — to  have  this  committee  overhaul  the  entire  constitu¬ 
tion  of  the  Conference. 

Dr.  Watson  :  No. 

Dr.  Brown  :  But  that  he  simply  means  a  clearer  definition 
of  the  functions  of  the  Conference,  its  objects  and  powers 
and  duties.  Would  it  not  be  well  to  make  that  clear, — be¬ 
cause  the  Conference  three  years  ago  appointed  a  committee, 
revising  the  constitution  then. 

Dr.  Watson  :  May  I  read  it  again  ?  I  will  read  it  this 
way :  That  a  special  committee  of  seven  be  appointed  to  pre¬ 
pare  a  statement  which  shall  define  more  clearly  the  func¬ 
tions  of  the  Conference,  its  authority,  and  the  conditions  and 
responsibilities  of  membership  in  it. 

Dr.  Brown:  Yes;  that  is  all  right. 

The  Chairman:  You  have  before  you  the  resolution  pre¬ 
sented  by  Dr.  Watson.  Will  you  remark  upon  it? 

Dr.  Fox:  I  would  like  to  ask — The  word  “authority”  is 
used  in  it.  I  would  like  to  ask  what  kind  of  authority  has 
the  Conference?  What  kind  of  authority  may  it  be  thought 
to  possess? 

Dr.  Watson  :  I  am  very  willing  to  have  that  change  made. 
I  assume  that  the  answer  could  be  that  it  had  no  authority. 

Dr.  Fox:  Then  you  had  better  not  say  that  it  has. 

(Calls  for  the  question.) 

The  Chairman:  Have  you  a  satisfactory  substitute  for 
the  word  “authority”  ? 

Dr.  Watson:  Mr.  Chairman:  I  will  read  it  this  way:  We 
want  to  get  this  to  suit  everybody.  That  a  special  committee 
of  seven  be  appointed  to  prepare  a  statement  which  shall  de- 

53 


fine  what  are  the  functions  and  authority  and  the  conditions 
and  responsibilities  of  membership  in  the  Conference. 

Dr.  Endicott:  Mr.  Chairman:  It  seems  to  me  that  if  we 
have  a  constitution,  and  that  because  it  is  a  constitution,  it 
must  state  just  those  things. 

Dr.  Watson  :  It  does  not. 

Dr.  Endicott  :  Does  it  not,  sir  ?  Then  how  can  we  have 
a  constitution  which  does  not  state  any  conditions  of  mem¬ 
bership  and  the  powers  and  authority?  Is  there  such  a  thing 
as  a  constitution  without  that?  Would  it  not  require  rather 
some  specific  indications  of  some  specific  lack  which  must 
be  met?  This  matter  seems  to  cover  it  all.  I  do  not  under¬ 
stand,  Mr.  Chairman.  The  point  I  make  is  that  I  cannot  un¬ 
derstand  how  there  could  be  an  organized  institution  at  all 
with  a  constitution  unless  it  did  state  those  very  things. 

Dr.  Wolff:  Mr.  Chairman :  Would  it  not  be  sufficient  to 
say  ‘‘what  are  the  functions  and  what  the  authority,  if  any”  ? 
If  we  get  that,  it  will  settle  the  whole  difficulty.  We  do  not 
assume  any  executive  power  that  we  know. 

(Calls  for  the  question.) 

The  Chairman:  Are  you  ready  for  the  question? 

A  Delegate  :  Have  it  read. 

The  Chairman:  It  is  desired  to  have  it  read  again. 

Dr.  Watson  :  That  a  special  committee  of  seven  be  ap¬ 
pointed  to  prepare  a  statement  which  shall  define  more  clear¬ 
ly  what  are  the  functions  and  authority  of  the  Conference 
and  the  conditions  and  responsibilities  of  membership  in  the 
Conference;  that  this  statement  be  put  into  such  form  that 
it  may  become  a  part  of  the  constitution  of  the  Conference, 
and  that  the  committee  submit  said  statement  to  the  Boards 
as  a  proposed  amendment,  so  that  it  may  be  legally  voted 
upon  at  the  next  meeting  of  the  Conference. 

The  Chairman  :  Mr.  Turner,  will  you  take  the  chair  just 
a  moment. 

(Mr.  Turner  takes  the  chair.) 

Dr.  North:  Mr.  Chairman:  I  venture  just  a  word  at  this 
point.  The  provision  for  securing  some  action  by  the  Boards 
is  rather  indefinite  in  your  present  constitution.  All  that  is 
required  for  a  matter  of  this  kind  is  that  the  proposed  amend¬ 
ments  be  submitted  to  the  Boards  four  weeks  before  the 
Annual  Meeting  of  the  Conference.  There  is  no  requirement 
and  no  request  that  the  Boards  take  action  on  the  matter. 
There  is  no  indication  of  whether  an  adverse  action  of  the 
Boards  would  invalidate  an  affirmative  action  by  this  Con¬ 
ference.  Presumably  it  would ;  but  that  is  not  indicated  in 
your  constitution  as  it  now  stands. 

54 


I  think  it  might  be  well  to  put  into  the  resolution  just  a 
trifle  more  punch, — using  the  language  of  the  street — pardon 
me ;  I  am  on  the  street  sometimes — that  is  to  say,  enough  to 
ask  that  the  Boards  do  take  action  on  it,  not  merely  in  the 
form  of  having  it  submitted  to  them,  but  requesting  them  to 
act  upon  the  proposals  that  are  presented.  That  requires  just 
an  added  word,  perhaps. 

May  I  say  that  when  the  matters  of  the  proposed  changes 
in  the  committee  arrangement  were  presented  to  the  Board 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  some  such  action  as  this 
was  taken :  That  in  view  of  the  fact  that  there  seems  not  to 
be  a  clear  definition  as  to  the  consultative  and  executive  func¬ 
tions  of  the  Conference,  the  Board  does  not  see  its  way  clear 
to  take  any  action  whatever  upon  the  proposed  amendments. 
That  is  a  simple  form  of  stating  that  in  some  sections  of  the 
constituency  there  is  a  definite  feeling  that  we  are  developing 
here,  quite  unconsciously  perhaps,  and  with  very  great  ef¬ 
ficiency  and  splendid  desire  and  purpose,  a  series  of  execu¬ 
tive  organizations  which  are  in  a  way  administrative,  to  which 
are  committed  both  by  the  Conference  and  from  conferences 
outside  of  the  Conference  certain  responsibilities  which  are 
formulated  and  put  into  process  and  come  to  be  a  part  of  the 
missionary  policy  of  the  Boards,  of  the  mission  forces  of 
North  America,  and  without  any  such  close  relationship  or 
authority — to  use  the  word — from  the  constituents  of  this 
Conference  as  would  make  those  executive  organizations  real¬ 
ly  responsible  to  the  people  who  are  controlling  and  spending 
the  sixteen  millions  of  dollars,  or  whatever  the  amount,  which 
are  sent  to  the  foreign  fields  by  these  Boards.  That  either 
we  should  be  just  a  conference,  as  you  were  when  you  start¬ 
ed,  or  if  we  are  to  create  executive  organizations,  there 
should  be  such  a  definition  of  our  powers  as  related  to  the 
Boards  that  there  will  be  a  broad  enough  base  for  the  de¬ 
velopment  of  such  organizations  ;  and  if  you  will  study  your 
present  statement  in  the  constitution,  I  think  you  will  see 
that  there  is  no  such  breadth  of  base  for  our  activities  in  that 
direction. 

I  do  not  believe  that  the  constituency  which  I  represent 
has  for  a  moment  a  question  of  the  extreme  value  of  what 
has  been  done  by  this  Conference  and  through  it.  There  is 
nothing  but  the  most  cordial  and  hopeful  expectations  with 
reference  to  the  further  organization  of  the  interboard  and 
interchurch  forces  of  North  America.  Some  of  us  have 
fought,  bled  and  died  in  the  interest  of  federation,  in  the 
interest  of  co-operative  action,  and  we  do  not  take  any  back 
steps  in  that  particular.  But  if  we  are  to  do  executive  work 


for  the  Boards,  the  proper  sanctions  and  restrictions  upon 
this  Conference  should  be  stated.  If  we  are  to  be  simply  a 
conference,  then  we  should  not  create  executive  organiza¬ 
tions  that  are  doing  the  things  for  the  Boards  and  for  the 
work  of  the  missions  which  seem  to  be  done  now.  And  so 
far  as  I  am  concerned,  I  heartily  support  this  proposal,  and 
I  think  I  may  say  for  a  branch  of  your  constituency  we  would 
heartily  support  this  proposal,  not  to  mar  the  efficiency  of 
your  organization,  but  rather  standing  strongly,  if  the  oppor¬ 
tunity  came,  for  your  reorganization  upon  the  basis  that  was 
submitted  today,  hoping  that  you  would  more  fully  than  ever 
get  in  line  for  doing  these  tilings.  But  like  the  old  founda¬ 
tion  in  Munich,  I  think  it  was,  when  they  undertook  to  build 
a  tower  higher  on  one  of  the  fine  old  churches,  and  found 
that  they  had  better  examine  what  had  been  in  the  founda¬ 
tions  placed  there  three  or  four  hundred  years  ago,  and  when 
they  dug  down  to  find  what  was  there  they  found  instead  of 
granite,  rubble,  and  the  first  thing  they  had  to  do  if  they  were 
going  to  build  up  toward  the  sky  was  to  get  down  into  the 
ground  and  put  foundations  under  their  proposed  new  tower, 
— we  may  be  going  to  build  a  much  larger  thing  than  we 
have  ever  thought  of  in  North  America,  through  our  mis¬ 
sion  boards;  but  before  we  began  to  build,  or  build  much 
more,  it  has  seemed  to  some  of  us  that  we  ought  to  get  down 
and  find  just  how  broad  and  how  strong  and  how  real  arc 
those  foundations.  Therefore,  I  thoroughly  support  and 
heartily  applaud,  so  far  as  my  own  judgment  is  concerned, 
the  proposal  that  this  Committee  take  into  consideration,  not 
for  the  arrest  of  our  energies  or  activities,  but  for  their 
stronger  development,  the  study  of  just  where  we  stand  with 
reference  to  our  great  constituencies,  and  bring  ourselves  in 
line,  if  possible,  with  the  great,  new  developments  that  have 
come  to  us. 

Dr.  Watson  :  Mr.  Chairman :  Will  you  permit,  then,  the 
addition  of  this  clause — in  the  multitude  of  counsels  there 
is  wisdom, — “and  that  in  submitting  the  said  statement  to 
the  Boards  they  be  requested  to  take  action  upon  the  same.” 

The  Chairman:  I  think  that  might  be  a  good  addition. 
Are  you  ready  for  the  report  ?  As  many  as  favor  the  adop¬ 
tion  of  the  resolution  say  Aye. 

(Motion  put  and  carried.) 


56 


